Carry Me Back

Oh, 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 in the saddle, powder in the gun
We thought for a minute our fight was done
So they lined us up, put the medals on
And they hammered us into the quicksand

Then they burned that valley with a blaze of fire
It cut through the lungs like a red-hot iron
So we ran for cover where the horses piled
And we shivered in the cold against them

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 that grass
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 we 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 for a woman's to heal

Died in the war, starved in the camps
Locked in the prisons, no mean in ranks
Spilled our blood in the fight to defend
And to bury the tome of the Dixieland

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

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