Alonzo Elliot


Alonzo "Zo" Elliot was an American composer and songwriter.

Early life

Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, Elliot was educated at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, Phillips Academy, Yale University, Cambridge University, and Columbia Law School. He also studied music privately with Nadia Boulanger and Leonard Bernstein, among others.

"There's a Long, Long Trail"

His best-known composition is "There's a Long Long Trail A-Winding", a popular song from the era of World War I. Elliott wrote the music, and Stoddard King, Elliot's chief song collaborator, wrote the lyrics, when they were seniors at Yale. The song was published in London in 1914, but a December 1913 copyright for the music is claimed by Zo Elliot.

Other works

Elliot composed the well-known march “British Eighth”. It was written in tribute to General Bernard Montgomery and the Eighth Army and was copyrighted in 1943 for publishing in 1944.
He also composed as an opera entitled Top Sergeant. In addition, he wrote an article on the background of the American Civil War song "John Brown's Body" ; the article purported to show that the John Brown of the song was a soldier in Boston, not the famous abolitionist of the same name.
Elliot died age 73 at the Gaylord Farm Hospital in Wallingford, Connecticut on June 25, 1964. He is buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Manchester, New Hampshire