Gettysburg Address
Authors Note:
Gettysburg Address is a poem/song by
Stoney Martin and Rob Harpur
Lyrics by
@RobertLHarpur
©All rights Reserved,
Martin and Harpur, 2020.
The song may be sung to the tune of the American National Anthem,
The Star Spangled Banner, until my partner gets around to writing an original score probably still loosely based on the Anthem.
Theme Music:
Roy Orbison's anti war song;
There Won't Be Many Coming Home
https://youtu.be/9PYUPVevqVU?si=oVHm49X-8cYqzJan
Gettysburg Address
1st Verse
Oh say can you see
By the stars early light
The cannonballs sieging
The horses in fright
I pray for my brother
Lost in the night
I wonder what cannon
He's manning tonight
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
2nd Verse
It's raining so hard
I'm glad I can't see
As the eyes start to fade
At the end of my blade
The lightening, the lightning
The horses they reel
My boots slip and slide
In the blood and the mud
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
3rd Verse
I'm washing the Springfield
In a puddle, I drank
The blood tastes so awful
My body smells rank
My grey coat is soaked
In the rain and blood red
Not much of it mine
So lots left to shed
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
4th Verse
Lee yells at us now
It's a victory shrill
Onward and upward
Up Cemetery Hill
Pickett waits and he waits
He waits until four
The North guns go silent
For ten minutes or more
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
5th Verse
My brother's hands burning
The barrel's so hot
He's ordered to cease, less the guns also seize
Eight minutes then nine
Since he fired a shot
The South is so many
Cemetery Hill is his plot
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
6th Verse
Pickett waits and he waits
His horsemen grow restless
They were ordered to fight
"They've run out of ammo"
It's plain as day now
We have a war to win
He says to his men
He orders the charge
For the mayhem to begin
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
7th Verse
I turn to my friend
He's from Texas you know
I had to come North now
My brother to show
Let's go meet him
Let's end this right now
Slap your horse with your sabre
As through the melee, we plough
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
8th Verse
Oh say can you see
Through the darkening light
The flash of his cannon
They brighten the night
The trap has been sprung
Whether thoughtful or not
It will surely determine
Who's wrong and who's right
The last thing we will see
Is my brother tonight
Chorus
Brother against brother
Father against Son
What madness is this
Killing on sight
But it's hit and it's miss
In the dead of the night
Gettysburg Address
Lyrics by @RobertLHarpur
©All Rights Reserved,
Martin and Harpur, 2020.
