The Tent at Tivoli

He was a Native Guard Volunteer
His skin like the summer night sky
And there on Ship Island our regiments waited
My brother in arms and I
I am a Union soldier
From the 13th Maine Infantry
And I followed Admiral Farragut
Up the wide Mississippi
And the city surrendered quite quickly
As the last of the howitzers sputtered
And we built an encampment in Tivoli Circle
By order of General Butler
Singing Lie de die de die de die
Lie de die de dee
Lie de die de die de die
My brother-in-arms and me
And we danced with each other the way that men do
Then lay in our calm reverie
Tousled and tender our touches were
In the tent at Tivoli

General Butler kept order
Union soldiers placed everywhere
He called the New Orleans ladies "whores"
As he stole their silverware
And we went through the motions of occupation
The tedium and the bore
And in each other's consolation
Filled hours with our rapport
'Til the evening that our orders came
Bound for the Red River was I
And he would go to Camp Parapet
The end of our coterie nigh
Still we sang Lie de die de die de die
Lie de die de dee
Lie de die de die de die
My brother-in-arms and me
And we danced with each other the way that men do
Then lay in our calm reverie
Tousled and tender our touches were
In the tent at Tivoli

We walked the avenue that night
'Neath the warm New Orleans sky
A tintype photograph he gave me
But never said goodbye
And we sang lie de die, de die de die
My brother in arms and me
And spent that last night dancing arm in arm
In the tent at Tivoli
Singing Lie de die de die de die
Lie de die de dee
Lie de die de die de die
My brother-in-arms and me
And we danced with each other the way that men do
Then lay in our calm reverie
Tousled and tender our touches were
In the tent at Tivoli
Lie de die de die de die
I found in my whole life, you see
The only tenderness I ever knew
In that tent at Tivoli