I blame TBDBITL for this one, a march rarely played anywhere by anyone.

Except by Ohio State University‘s marching band, modestly known on that campus as The Best Damn Band in the Land — or TBDBITL.

It is a French tune nearly 140 years old, literally a marching song, back when the French were considered a martial race, and a catchy marching song that seems to be able to propel a person forward when walking.

(The tune comes unbidden to me when I am walking steadily/quickly.)

Le Regiment de Sambre et Muese.

First, let’s get to the music.

–Here is the wiki page for the song. Scroll down and look to the right, where three bits of the song are embedded in the page. I recommend the “Caruso” version, because not only do you hear someone singing, you hear Enrico Caruso singing, a man still considered one of the premier tenors of the past few 100-plus years — going back to the invention of music recordings.

—Here is Ohio State playing Sambre et Meuse … which is what they use as the background for their famous (among college football fans) “script Ohio” … which ends with the “dotting of the i” by an honored tuba player.

You can hear the march fairly well there. And doesn’t it set your foot a-tappin’?

So, back to the name of the song. The Sambre and the Meuse are French rivers near the border of the country — the sort of place soldiery might have to march to, in case of an outbreak of hostilities.

(The German equivalent would be Die Wacht am Rhein — the Watch on the Rhine.)

It might have been a semi-well-known song even a century ago, but it probably would have disappeared like other marches from the 1870s if not for Ohio State playing it at every home football game.

Thanks, TBDBITL.