My Daddy was a slave
Down on the old Caine Plantation
Deep in the CSA
Those were the bad old days

When the sun was as hot as steel
And the sweat would begin to drip
We would toil in the cotton field
'neath the overseer's whip

Then a man named Massa Jeff
Took a bold, defiant step
He would wage war to the knife
To defend a way of life

I heard the Rebel Yell
The white folks cheered the day Fort Sumter fell
Lordy, what a fight they said it was!
Lordy, what a blow for the Noble Cause!
Glory be!

They rang the steeple bell
Our soldiers really gave them Yankees hell!
Met 'em at a place they called "Bull Run"
Chased them all the way to Washington
Yes, indeed!

Then the young men marched away
And I could hear their mamas pray
While all their sweethearts whispered "Stay"
To their heroes dressed in gray

Soon four Aprils came and went
And they limped home, frail and spent
Some of them could barely crawl
Some did not come back at all

I heard their mamas cry
"My poor young Johnnie, why'd he have to die?
Lord, oh give me strength to face this pain
Tell me that his death was not in vain, no indeed"!

I saw my master frown
It was the night they drove old Dixie down
People didn't seem to cheer no more
When they got a closer look at war, no indeed!

Then the war at last was done
And nobody really won

So we learned to taste defeat
There was not much else to eat
And we had no crop that fall
General Sherman burned it all

And then Abe Lincoln died
And everybody cried
In the dark of night old Abe was slain
Who will set the country right again, who indeed?

My daddy said to me
"My son, at last we're free
Never thought I'd live to see the day
Hopin' we can find a better way, yes indeed"!