[Dixielandjazz] Origin of "When the Saints..."

[Pat Ladd]

We tend to think that `The saints` has always been around,. maybe for a bit 
longer in the USA but I remember it being so new here a National Daily 
during the war printed the words together with a write up.
I was around 12/13 yrs old and cannot recall the circumstances but I assume 
it was something to do with the first arrivals in the UK of coloured US 
troops. Most people in the UK, unless they lived in Liverpool or some other 
dock area  had not seen a coloured person before.

This probably gave rise to the joke

`What do you think of these American soldiers?`
`Oh they are OK, but I don`t think much of those white guys they brought 
with them`

Cheers

Pat