Reveille


"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call, drum, fife-and-drum or pipes call most often associated with the military; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise. The name comes from réveille, the French word for "wake up".

Commonwealth of Nations and the United States

The tunes used in the Commonwealth of Nations are different from the one used in the United States, but they are used in analogous ways: to ceremonially start the day. British Army Cavalry and Royal Horse Artillery regiments sound a call different from the infantry versions, known as "The Rouse" but often misnamed "Reveille", while most Scottish Regiments of the British Army sound a pipes call of the same name, to the tune of "Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?", a tune that commemorates the Battle of Prestonpans. For the Black Watch, since the Crimean War, '"Johnnie Cope has been part of a sequence of pipe tunes played at an extended reveille on the 15th of every month known as "Crimean Long Reveille".
In modern times, the U.S. military plays "Reveille" in the morning, generally near sunrise, though its exact time varies from base to base. On U.S. Army posts and Air Force bases, "Reveille" is played by itself or followed by the bugle call "To the Colors" at which time the national flag is raised and all U.S. military personnel outdoors are required to come to attention and present a salute in uniform, either to the flag or in the direction of the music if the flag is not visible. While in formation, soldiers are brought to the position of parade rest while "Reveille" plays then called to attention and present arms as the national flag is raised. On board U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard facilities, the flag is generally raised at 0800 while "The Star Spangled Banner" or the bugle call "To the Colors" is played. On some U.S. military bases, "Reveille" is accompanied by a cannon shot.
In Commonwealth Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday services, and ANZAC Day services, "The Last Post" begins the period of silent reflection, and "Reveille" ends it. The two tunes symbolize sunset and sunrise respectively, and therefore, death and resurrection. Winston Churchill had "Last Post" sounded at his funeral, followed by "Reveille."
"To Reveille" or "to sound Reveille" is often used among military personnel as a term meaning "to notify personnel that it is time to wake up", whether the bugle call is actually sounded or not. Units lacking the personnel or equipment necessary to play the tune will often assign the duty to "sound Reveille" to the last watch of the night, who must ensure that others are roused at the proper time, by any appropriate means.
The reveille'' is still played in all the Australian Defence Forces. It was originally played by drums.

Lyrics

Australia

Although there are no official lyrics to "Reveille", these unofficial lyrics for the Commonwealth "Reveille" have been recently popularized:

British

The first lines of the British Cavalry "Reveille" were for many years rendered as:
The infantry and general "Reveille" ran:
In the Royal Navy, "Reveille" was usually verbalised as:

United States

To the U.S. tune:
Another set of lyrics to the U.S. tune above:
Still another U.S. version goes:
Most famous is Irving Berlin's comic adaption of the tune and the lyrics in his 1918 song Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, inspired by his experience as a draftee in the First World War. Recast from the original military 2:4 time to a more swinging 6:8 rhythm, the words
are set to the initial notes of the bugle call, followed by

Music

"Reveille" and "Rouse" are composed, like nearly all bugle music, solely from the notes of the major triad, usually notated in C as: C, the tonic; E, the mediant; and G, the dominant.
Both the Commonwealth and United States "Reveilles" can be played with any combination of valves, because they were first played on a bugle, which lacks valves and plays only notes from the harmonic series.

Denmark

The "Reveille" was previously used throughout the Royal Danish Army, but is now only played at sunrise and sunset at the Guard Hussar Regiment barracks, by buglers from the mounted squadron's drum and bugle corps.
It is also played every morning at the Royal Life Guard barracks in Copenhagen while the flag is hoisted at the garrison.

Germany

"Reise Reise" is the wake up call on ships of the German Navy, the Deutsche Marine. It comes from the Low German word for rise. Every day on a German Navy ship starts with a wake-up call, the purren, which is started by the Locken, a whistle from the boatswain's call given 5 minutes before the main wake-up call. The wake-up call is given by a long whistle and the call: Reise, reise, aufstehen, überall zurrt Hängematten.

India

In the Indian Army, "Reveille" is sounded at 06:00, and the regimental colours are hoisted. As this also signals the start of the physical training parade, for practical reasons, servicemen must awake prior to the sounding of reveille.

Ireland

In the Irish Army, "Reveille" is sounded at dawn and at military wreath-laying ceremonies, as on the National Day of Commemoration.

Sweden

In Sweden, "Revelj " can be played on bugle, trumpet or drum. Today, it is usually played from a recording. There is also a reveille for military band composed by Johann Heinrich Walch that is used as the reveille of the Swedish Armed Forces.

Boy Scouts of America

Within the Boy Scouts of America, it is common for reveille to be sounded as a "wake up" for a large encampment of scouts, usually a camporee, jamboree or summer camp. The music may be played over the camp's intercom or bugled or trumpeted by the camp bugler. An individual scout unit may also sound "Reveille" to rouse the scouts and scouters on a weekend trip, though this is less common.
Troop Bugler is a position of leadership in some Troops.
An instrumental rock version of the melody was recorded as "Reveille Rock" in 1959 by Johnny and The Hurricanes and released on Warwick Records, catalog number M-513. The record charted Billboard number 25 and number 14 in the UK.