Tegen het einde van de Amerikaanse Burgeroorlog (1861-1865) waren de zuidelijke staten door hun kanonnenvoer heen. Het tekort aan mankracht was zó groot dat 16-jarige jongens gerekruteerd werden. Songschrijver Ketch Secor: I imagine their pride and valor as they marched up that hill and their shock as they heard the screams of the horses in the smoke. I wanted to surprise the listener the same way, so I started off by extolling the virtue of war, then drawing off all that glory till the truth was revealed.
Secor laat er geen twijfel over bestaan: oorlog is de hel. Hij legt de verschrikkingen van de strijd vast met een tekst over hongersnood, etterende wonden en opgestapelde lijken. De verteller kijkt toe hoe de benen van zijn medesoldaten worden geamputeerd en hun lichamen achtergelaten om te rotten in de moerassen en de velden. In het slotrefrein heeft de verteller alle hoop de oorlog te overleven opgegeven. Wat rest is een wanhopige smeekbede in elk geval begraven te worden in zijn geboorteplaats: Won’t ya carry me back? Won’t ya carry me back? I wanna be buried in Virginia.
[Verse 1]
Well, I come from the valley, I’m a rebel boy
Born on the banks of the Shenandoah
In ’61, I went to the war
To win one for Virginia!
Yeah, my brother went first and they called me too
I was green as clover in the morning dew
So I marched to the drum and I sang to the tune
Carry me back to Virginia!
[Bridge 1]
Fire in the cannon, water in the well
Raced through the valley with a rebel yell
I learned right quick how to march like hell
And affix that bayonet
[Chorus]
Won’t ya carry me back?
Won’t ya carry me back?
Carry me back to Virginia
[Verse 2]
With a sword and a saddle
Powder in the gun
We thought for a minute our fight was done
So they lined us up with our medals on
And hammered us into the quicksand
Then they burned that valley in a blaze of fire
Cut through the lands like a red hot iron
Til the men took cover where the horses piled
Then we shivered in the cold against them
[Bridge 2]
But the war raged on like flames of hell
We dug through the pockets of the ones who fell
Dressed in rags and we ate like rats
When they cut off our legs we cried!
[Chorus 2]
Won’t ya carry me back?
Won’t ya carry me back?
Carry me back to Virginia
Won’t ya carry me back?
Won’t ya carry me back?
Carry me back to Virginia
[Verse 3]
And they died in the valley
Died in the swamp
On the banks of the river where the whitetail jumped
Died in the ditches
Died in the fields
In the belly of a wagon a‘fore our wounds were healed
Died in the war
Starved in the camps
Locked in the prisons of a meaner man
Spilled our blood in the fight to defend
And they buried us all over Dixieland
[Bridge 3]
Down in Alabama
Down in Caroline
Way down in Georgia, on the Tennessee line
We fought for the rebels, and Robert E. Lee
Now we want to go home to Virginia
Say we want to go home to Virginia!
[Chorus 2]
Won’t ya carry me back?
Won’t ya carry me back?
Carry me back to Virginia
Won’t ya carry me back?
Won’t ya carry me back?
I wanna be buried in Virginia
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper / Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army – http://www.army.mil/-images/2008/09/14/21733/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5241094
