Carry Me Back

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 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 Won't ya carry me back? Won't ya carry me back? Carry me back to Virginia 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 the- 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 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 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 '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 Down in Alabama, down in Caroline Way down in Tokyo, 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 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