Song of the Week - Apr. 12, 2010 - Cotton's Burning
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:49 am
Cotton’s Burning
Tell your captain I have come to claim my dead
Let the flag of truce arise
Richmond’s burning – all the politician’s fled
We are the last men to survive
So you can tell old Jefferson Davis
That his prayers – they cannot save us
Nor can Robert E. Lee’s
(Chorus)
Oo- oo - the cotton’s burning
Dixe’s crumbling down
Oo-oo – the tobacco’s turning
There’s a fire in Richmond town
We raised our rifles in the back woods of Tennessee
We rode the rails a thousand miles
Marched through white cotton fields
Eight-hundred men to feed
Some were no more than a child
We wore torn and battered at Antietem
Don’t fire until you see them boys
Then we laid the field down
(Repeat chorus)
Bridge:
We set the streets on fire
We poured the whiskey in the road
And the flames – they rose higher
And then the arsenal exploded….lit up the night, lit up the night…
I am a colonel in the 14th Tennessee
I am a carpenter by trade
Back home I’m gonna build some cradles
I’m tired of laying coffins in graves
When I get home from this
Thousand mile parade
You can tell old Jefferson Davis
That his prayers – they cannot save us
Nor can Robert E. Lee’s
The cotton’s burning
Dixie’s tumbling down
Tobacco’s turning
There’s a fire in Richmond town, town
And I’m a long way from home….home…..
I remember first hearing "Cotton's Burning" at WoodyFest when it was a very new song and being immediately blown away by it. It must have been 2007 because I remember listening to EP perform in the Crystal Theater - the year there was so much rain that the outdoor shows had to be moved inside. Right after the show, EP handed me a CD of his performance so I had a recording of the new song! ... and I played it repeatedly trying to get all the lyrics down. The lyrics changed considerably over the next few weeks/months but it's still one of my favorite songs. (Did I really just say that?)
KarenZ
Tell your captain I have come to claim my dead
Let the flag of truce arise
Richmond’s burning – all the politician’s fled
We are the last men to survive
So you can tell old Jefferson Davis
That his prayers – they cannot save us
Nor can Robert E. Lee’s
(Chorus)
Oo- oo - the cotton’s burning
Dixe’s crumbling down
Oo-oo – the tobacco’s turning
There’s a fire in Richmond town
We raised our rifles in the back woods of Tennessee
We rode the rails a thousand miles
Marched through white cotton fields
Eight-hundred men to feed
Some were no more than a child
We wore torn and battered at Antietem
Don’t fire until you see them boys
Then we laid the field down
(Repeat chorus)
Bridge:
We set the streets on fire
We poured the whiskey in the road
And the flames – they rose higher
And then the arsenal exploded….lit up the night, lit up the night…
I am a colonel in the 14th Tennessee
I am a carpenter by trade
Back home I’m gonna build some cradles
I’m tired of laying coffins in graves
When I get home from this
Thousand mile parade
You can tell old Jefferson Davis
That his prayers – they cannot save us
Nor can Robert E. Lee’s
The cotton’s burning
Dixie’s tumbling down
Tobacco’s turning
There’s a fire in Richmond town, town
And I’m a long way from home….home…..
I remember first hearing "Cotton's Burning" at WoodyFest when it was a very new song and being immediately blown away by it. It must have been 2007 because I remember listening to EP perform in the Crystal Theater - the year there was so much rain that the outdoor shows had to be moved inside. Right after the show, EP handed me a CD of his performance so I had a recording of the new song! ... and I played it repeatedly trying to get all the lyrics down. The lyrics changed considerably over the next few weeks/months but it's still one of my favorite songs. (Did I really just say that?)
KarenZ