Kathleen, Queen of the Desert

Written in about 1976, and based on my ancestor Uncle Hyland Biddle, wounded at the Battle of Shiloh

CHORUS:

Well, I feel like I’m slippin’ into hell to the sound of a rebel yell;
I only want to be a Union hero,
Most decorated man at the Battle of Shiloh;
But I had to get shot in the knee,
And, as the doctor said to me,
“If the pain don’t kill you, boy, it’ll be the gangrene.”

Daddy, Daddy, won’t you buy me a gun,
I don’t need a new jacket or a pair of boots;
There are rabbits in the spring and turkeys in the fall,
There are so many things that I can learn to shoot.

Mama, Mama, gonna leave you for a while,
Are you sure my uniform’s clean?
I’ll write you aletter and send you a flag,
I’m gonna be the best soldier Mr. Lincoln’s ever seen.

CHORUS

Captain, Captain, won’t you let me up front,
This Pennsylvania boy’s got eyes like a cat;
I’ve hunted ‘possum and ‘coon and white-tailed deer,
I know I can show you where those rebels are at.

Darlin’, Darlin’, had the craziest dream,
The war was over, everybody wore green;
Do you think I’m getting better like you said I would,
Or do you think I took a little too much morphine?

CHORUS