29 quotes
“No praise could be sufficient for those courageous musicians whom we left behind. They were heroes to a man.”
The Band That Played On (2011)
In the whole history of the sea, there is little to equal the wonderful behavior of these humble players.
The Band That Played On (2011)
There is not in history a more splendid and inspiring example of self-control, of self-sacrifice, of courage and of manliness.
The Band That Played On (2011)
The image of the lighted ship sliding under the waves, while the band carried on regardless, captured the public’s imagination.
The Band That Played On (2011)
“The ship’s orchestra of eight young men were standing knee deep in water playing.”
The Band That Played On (2011)
“They were brave and splendid, all the men. They died like brave men.”
The Band That Played On (2011)
The band played marching from deck to deck, and as the ship went under I could still hear the music.
The Band That Played On (2011)
The story of their gallantry came to epitomize a spirit of courage, duty and self-sacrifice.
The Band That Played On (2011)
It was 11:45 at night according to ship’s time when the Titanic grazed along the iceberg that would send it to the ocean bed.
The Band That Played On (2011)
When everything on the ship was being turned upside down, the music remained the same. In the midst of mind-jarring abnormality, it was the one thing that retained its familiarity.
The Band That Played On (2011)
For those out on the water it provided a bizarre soundtrack to a sight that so many would only be able to describe as “like watching a moving picture.”
The Band That Played On (2011)
They kept it up until the very end. Only the engulfing ocean had power to drown them into silence.
The Band That Played On (2011)
Shipwreck was an ever-present possibility in 1912.
The Band That Played On (2011)
It wasn’t hard for people to see the Titanic as a metaphor for Western civilization’s obsessions with speed, wealth, and conquest at the expense of contemplation, sharing and the well-being of one’s neighbor.
The Band That Played On (2011)
In the last moments of the great ship’s doom, when all was plainly lost, when braver and hardier men might almost have been excused for doing practically anything to save themselves, they stood responsive to their conductor’s baton and played a recessional tune.
The Band That Played On (2011)
The final dive of the ship, as the bow lay submerged and the stern rose out of the water, was truly horrendous for all who witnessed it.
The Band That Played On (2011)
By the twentieth of April, the story was widely accepted and was viewed as one of the most heartening acts of bravery in the whole tragedy.
The Band That Played On (2011)
[Bandleader Hartley] apparently believed that music could be more powerful that physical force in bringing order to chaos.
The Band That Played On (2011)
“I could hear the band playing a cheery sort of music. I don’t like jazz music as a rule, but I was glad to hear it that night. I think it helped us all.”
The Band That Played On (2011)
“The notes of this music were the last thing I heard before I went off the poop and felt myself going headlong into the icy water with the engines and machinery buzzing in my ears.”
The Band That Played On (2011)