Fiddler's Green

Wikipedia:

Fiddler's Green is a legendary imagined afterlife, where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire. Its origins are obscure, although some point to the Greek myth of the "Elysian Fields" as a potential inspiration.

Sailors

One sailor's tale published in 1832 speaks of Fiddler's Green as being "nine miles beyond the dweling of his Satanic majesty". In maritime folklore it is a kind of afterlife for sailors who have served at least 50 years at sea, where there is rum and tobacco.

Frederick Marryat

Fiddler's Green appears in his novel The Dog Fiend; Or, Snarleyyow, published in 1856, as lyrics to a sailors' song:

When here they’ve done their duty The bowl of grog shall still renew

Adoption among US military

The story of Fiddler's Green was published in 1923, in Cavalry Journal. According to this article, it was inspired by a story told by Captain "Sammy" Pearson at a campfire in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. It is still used by modern cavalry units to memorialize the deceased. The name has had other military uses. Today, in the heart of the Helmand River Valley, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the U.S. Marine Corps operates a firebase (FB) named Fiddler's Green. Fiddler’s Green was an artillery Fire Support Base in Military Region III in Vietnam in 1972 occupied principally by elements of 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry, and also was the name of the U.S. Navy's enlisted men's club in Sasebo, Japan from 1952 to 1976. The Cavalry man's poem regarding Fiddler's Green is also the regimental poem of the US 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

It was the name of the enlisted men's club at Bainbridge Naval Training Center. The informal bar at the Fort Sill Officers' Open Mess used to be known as Fiddler's Green and it is the name of the stable and pasture used by Parsons Mounted Cavalry, a cadet group at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and that of the bar at the Leaders Club in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Building 2805, which used to be the O-club, on Fort Hood, Texas is called Fiddler's Green. There is also a small E-club on Camp Pendleton in area 43 (Las Pulgas) named for it.

Conolly's song

A song based on Fiddler's Green, called Fiddler's Green or more often Fo'c'sle Song, was written and copyrighted by John Conolly, a Lincolnshire (English) songwriter. It was first recorded by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior in their 1968 album, "Folk Songs of Olde England." The song is sung worldwide in nautical and Irish traditional circles, and is often mistakenly thought to be a traditional song.

The Cavalrymen's Poem

Halfway down the trail to Hell, In a shady meadow green Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped, Near a good old-time canteen. And this eternal resting place Is known as Fiddlers' Green.

Marching past, straight through to Hell The Infantry are seen. Accompanied by the Engineers, Artillery and Marines, For none but the shades of Cavalrymen Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail To seek a warmer scene. No trooper ever gets to Hell Ere he's emptied his canteen. And so rides back to drink again With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down Beneath a saber keen, Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee You stop a bullet clean, And the hostiles come to get your scalp, Just empty your canteen, And put your pistol to your head And go to Fiddlers' Green.

Neil Gaiman

In Neil Gaiman's award winning comic book series, The Sandman, Fiddler's Green is a place located inside of the Dreaming, a place that sailors have dreamed of for centuries. Fiddler's Green is also personified as a character as well as a location in the fictional world.

From November 12–14, 2004, a comic book convention promoted as "Fiddler's Green, A Sandman Convention" was held at the Millennium Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Author Neil Gaiman and several Sandman series artists and others involved in the series' publication participated in the convention, with profits benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Richard McKenna

The author Richard McKenna wrote a story, first published in 1967, entitled "Fiddler's Green", in which he considers the power of the mind to create a reality of its own choosing, especially when a number of people consent to it. The main characters in this story are also sailors, and have known of the legend of Fiddler's Green for many years.

Other songs