THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES PART TWO
ABE LINCOLN BLUES
Man after man has wilted from the pressure and the stress
Man after man has wilted from the pressure and the stress
If I can't get me a fighting General
I'll put my brains all on my desk
I take freedom to give it Oh yes I see the irony
I take freedom to give it oh yes I see the irony
We're the first ones to really do it right
It's all coming down to me
All these chumps around me they just don't see what's at stake
All these chumps around me they just don't see what's a stake
You know that ruling's meant for people
Not the whims royalty makes
I don't want no epitaph don't want no gravestone by my hand
I don't want no epitaph don't want no gravestone by my hand
Oh no
All I'm really wanting
Is to unite this promised land
Oh guitar
America is Zion she ain't perfect yes I know
America is Zion she ain't perfect yes I know
But when it comes down to it
Where the hell else you gonna go?
Four score and seven years that's just a blink in history
Four score and seven years that's just a blink in history
And when the killing's over
It's all coming down to me
Oh I'll tell yah
DEATH IN AMERICA
My Gettysburg nurse
Takes care of me
She is an angel
She's the Virgin Mary
This town stinks of death
Rancid aftermath
She reads Walt Whitman
What a fucking bloodbath
Oh man
The Union, sir, means the world to me
I'm a Pennsylvania boy
American as can be
Cut down by rebel fire
Now I ain't got no knees
Piles of bloody stumps
Small price because we're free
In America
Death in America
My Gettysburg nurse
Glows in the night
Her voice, a poem, soothes my plight
Hospital bed
It's a schoolroom floor
I'll never walk through another door
No way
My Gettysburg nurse
She held my hand
I am just a soldier
I am just a man
July 8th
Half past five
She smiled at me
And then I died
For America
Death in America
ANDERSONVILLE
(instrumental)
AN EDUCATED MAN
I'm an Ivy League colored in the 54
Now I'm living in a tent in '64
I teach these field hands how to read
Their ways don't mean a thing to me
Antietem gave Lincoln the where with all
I'm a chamber music lover in this free for all
But I can march and shoot 'cause I'm a man
I'm going to gun down some South Carolinians
I'm an educated man
I'm a fixture up in Boston high society
I enlisted, sir, to help to set my people free
Took a boat down south it's hot as hell
The southern women call me "n*****" while they're ringing on their bells
Down a mile of beach Battery Wagner stands
To reiterate I am an educated man
But my knowledge won't mean a thing to me
When I set foot into that killing spree
I'm an educated man
The first volley caught me in the eye
The second one lodged in my thigh
In pain I saw the colors fly
I stood and rushed the bunker then I
Barely missed a cannon blast
One more musket ball might be my last
I took a shell straight through my knee
You bastards SET MY PEOPLE FREE
I'm an educated man
SHERMAN'S MARCH
Gone southern man
Gone dixieland
Sherman's march to the sea
Black race finally set free
Burn, Georgia, burn
Cry, momma, cry
Sherman's march to the sea
Black race finally set free
Gone, General Lee
Gone, General Lee
Sherman's march to the sea
Black race finally set free
APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE
The winter nights were cold and wet
We hadn't taken Richmond yet
McClellan had us camped out there
"Oh Be Joyful" curled me hair
General Grant's got bloody hands
The Wilderness will test a man
I tripped on skulls of Federal Troops
I kicked 'em with me Union boots
Richmond's sacked and Lee is on the run
Jeff Davis has evacuated, son
Engaging rebels every day and night
Appomattox Courthouse in me sight
Bobby Lee was neat and pressed
Ulysses Grant just looked a mess
We took their guns and sent them home
We drank and toasted northern bones
I took the train to Maine and then
I kissed me wife and punched me friends
The whiskey cuts like heaven's knives
I can't believe I'm still alive
LONG WALK HOME
Feet on dirt I'm born to roam
Getting on with the long walk home
I see these white boys slinking south
Old school belles they fill their mouths
I wish I would see Massa Ted
I'd put a bullet in his head
"Fieldhand Slim" they did call me
Until Lincoln set me free
I'm getting out of Savanah
Up through the Carolinas
Up north up north I will go
I never even seen the snow
You fuckers best look out for me
I'll show you what a former slave can be
Sold my momma raped my wife
Whipped me beat me took my life
Blue coat black man broke my chains
I'm never going back again
These white boys pass as I head north
Any city any port
Feet on dirt I'm born to roam
Getting on with the long walk home
RISING OUTLAW
The sky's devoid of any trees
I'm glad I still got two good knees
There's a hole in my hand like Jesus Christ
I'm a rebel fighting 'til my work is done
Well they kilt my family and I dug the graves
You can't turn off a fucking wave
Still got my rifle I'll steal your horse
You'll be staring down the barrel of my gun
Fuck the US I must say
It's not my country anyway
The Second Revolution has come and gone
Now I'm robbing trains out in the desert sun
I'm a rising outlaw sling my guns
I dream about my dead wife and my daughter and son
I was hitching up my trusty mule
When they burnt my family down
I fought their war and truth be told
I never thought that I could be so bold
Now living with death is all I know
I'm rebel pride riding into town
Now fuck the generals
Fuck the south
Fuck the north and shut my mouth
Fuck the frontier what's yours is mine
I'm raining down lead like hail
Fuck the indians
Fuck the sky
Fuck the earth and say goodbye
When I strike you won't see me
This war will never end
This war will never end
ROSA PARKS WALTZ
(instrumental)
FANDANGO
What's the difference
War is war
Sacrificing
All the poor
Cannon fodder in the ranks
Stones to swords
Guns to tanks
Dadless kids
Rich man's game
Leaving corpses
And the blind and the lame
Peace is respite
War is life
Poor man's burden
And his wife
And sonless mothers
Power hungry
Sick with rage
Demand vengeance
Blood be paid
Death decreed
Murdering
Beyond bombast
Cowards sing
We sing
We don't deserve good
We just don't rate
Thugs with weapons
Thugs who hate
Trapped and cornered
Might be dead
Fire at will
BAYONETS
Fandango