Story Behind the Song
A good melody lives on and on. The melody for "The Girl I Left Behind Me" comes from the Irish with early lyrics reflecting Ireland's battle against British rule. The tune, however, traveled west to the colonies and was rewritten as a cowboy tune somewhere along the way. Verses from both "tunes" are presented below.
Lyrics
Kingdom Coming (Year of Jubilo)
by Henry Clay Work
Say, darkies, have you seen the massa
With his mustache on his face.
Go long the road some time this morning
Like he gonna leave this place.
He seen a smoke way up the river,
Where the Lincoln gunboats lay;
He took his hat and left very sudden
And I 'spect he run away!
Chorus:
The massa run? Ha! Ha!
The darkie stay. Ho! Ho!
It must be now the Kingdom Coming
And the year of Jublio!
He six foot one way, two foot tuther,
And he weigh three hundred pound.
His coat so big he couldn't pay the tailor
An' it won't go half around.
He drill so much they call him "cap'n"
And he get so dreadful tanned
I spec he try and fool them Yankees
For to think he's contraband.
Chorus)
The darkies feel so lonesome living
In the log house on the lawn,
They move their things to massa's parlor
For to keep it while he's gone.
Thar's wine and cider in de kitchen
An the darkies they'll have some;
I spose they'll all be confiscated
When the Lincoln soldiers come.
(chorus)
The overeeer he make us trouble,
And he drive us round a spell;
We lock him up in the smokehouse celler,
With the key thrown in the well.
The whip is lost, the handcuff broken,
But the massa have his pay;
He's old enough, big enough, ought to have known better
Than to went and run away!
(chorus)
Battle Cry of Freedom
George F. Root
Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
Chorus:
The Union forever, Hurrah boys, Hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
And we'll fill the vacant ranks with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
(chorus)
We will welcome to our numbers the loyal true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
And although they may be poor, not a man shall be a slave.
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
(chorus)
So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.
(chorus)
The Girl I Left Behind Me
(Traditional Irish version)
I'm lonesome since I crossed the hill
And o'er the moor and valley.
Such heavy thoughts my heart do fill,
Since parting with my Sally.
I seek no more the fine and gay,
For each does but remind me,
How swift the hours pass away,
With the girl I left behind me.
The bee shall honey taste no more,
The dove become a ranger,
The dashing waves shall cease to roar
Ere she's to me a stranger.
But I'm bound to Brighton camp,
Kind heaven, may favor find me,
And send me safely back again
To the girl I left behind me.
The Girl I Left Behind Me
(Traditional Cowboy version)
I struck a trail in seventy-nine,
The herd strung out behind me;
As I jogged along, my mind ran back
To the gal I left behind me.
If I ever get off the trail
And the Indians don't find me,
I'll make my way straight back again,
To the gal I left behind me.
When the night was dark and the cattle run,
With the boys coming on behind me,
My mind ran back at my pistol's crack
To the gal I left behind me.
The wind did blow, the rain did flow,
The hail did fall and blind me;
The thought of that gal,
that sweet little gal,
The gal I left behind me.
Kingdom Coming (Year of Jubilo)
by Henry Clay Work
Say, darkies, have you seen the massa
With his mustache on his face.
Go long the road some time this morning
Like he gonna leave this place.
He seen a smoke way up the river,
Where the Lincoln gunboats lay;
He took his hat and left very sudden
And I 'spect he run away!
Chorus:
The massa run? Ha! Ha!
The darkie stay. Ho! Ho!
It must be now the Kingdom Coming
And the year of Jublio!
He six foot one way, two foot tuther,
And he weigh three hundred pound.
His coat so big he couldn't pay the tailor
An' it won't go half around.
He drill so much they call him "cap'n"
And he get so dreadful tanned
I spec he try and fool them Yankees
For to think he's contraband.
Chorus)
The darkies feel so lonesome living
In the log house on the lawn,
They move their things to massa's parlor
For to keep it while he's gone.
Thar's wine and cider in de kitchen
An the darkies they'll have some;
I spose they'll all be confiscated
When the Lincoln soldiers come.
(chorus)
The overeeer he make us trouble,
And he drive us round a spell;
We lock him up in the smokehouse celler,
With the key thrown in the well.
The whip is lost, the handcuff broken,
But the massa have his pay;
He's old enough, big enough, ought to have known better
Than to went and run away!
(chorus)
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