ATLANTA: Bitter Tears

[Buc McMaster]

I very much enjoy reading the history of the American Civil War......or the War of the Rebellion to some.......perhaps the darkest days of a young nation torn in two. Last year I wrote 20th Maine after reading yet another book on the fight at Gettysburg in July of 1863. The exploits of the Army of Northern Virginia, led by General Robert E. Lee, are well known and popular with students of the war, but it was another General that broke the heart of the Confederacy in late '64 through early '65. William Tecumseh Sherman and his army of 65,000 laid siege to Atlanta for five weeks until the ragged rebels could no longer resist, the city was ravaged and burned as the Union army began it's infamous march across Georgia. At this point in the war, Lee's army was pinned down at Petersburg, Virginia by U.S Grant's 100,000+ Army of the Potomac and the Confederacy was teetering on the brink of collapse and starvation. Georgia and the Carolinas were virtually defenseless in the face of Sherman's invaders.......

 

I have but a couple chapters left in a book entitled Sherman's March which documents this event in detail from letters home, personal diaries and after-action reports by the officers........quite a sad tale of destruction.......but it was Sherman's intent to make the South feel the pain of total war and break their will to fight. So this morning, strumming on the spooky chord progression I submitted in another post, a few lines began to come to mind........

 

EDIT: Think I've got the lyric in pretty good shape with a little tweaking of what I had and the addition of two more verses and a chorus. New, more complete video added this morning.......performance still rough.......I'm workin' on it!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgZGcrmuzI

 

BITTER TEARS The Bucster, August 2017

 

That house near the corner……no one’s been there for years

They all left for the border……with broken hearts and bitter tears

The railway station behind us……they burned it down in ‘63

But it’s still there and reminds us……of Sherman’s march to the sea

 

There'll be no quarter for the rebels…….I’ll make Georgia howl!

Some said he was the devil…… or some relation anyhow

With the fall of Atlanta…….they came on like a storm

And all the way to Savannah…..the heart of Dixie was torn

 

Will we ever be the same.......should we hang our heads in shame

Will we stand here in the rain of these bitter tears

 

Thirty thousand south to Macon……Augusta threatened in the east

All was broken, burned or taken……the land devoured by the beast

They could hear the Yanks a’comin’……they could see the smokey sky

All those women and the youngin’s…..some defiant, most just cried

 

O'r the hills and cross the rivers……unrelenting as a flood

Like an unrepentant sinner…..rebellion’s price is paid in blood

Three hundred miles the army plundered……Savannah fell without a fight

The heart of Georgia torn asunder…..and Carolina's in his sights

 

Will we ever be the same.......should we hang our heads in shame

Will we stand here in the rain of these bitter tears

Will we ever be the same.......will we rise in freedom's name

Or will we stand here in this rain of our bitter tears

[Tim35]

Great job and song Buc! I'm a sucker for Civil war songs anyway....nice 12 fret too...

[rbpicker]

The mood you've created is perfect. Puts the listener right in middle of it. Looking forward to the songs completion.

 

Rb

[Lars68]

Ah, love the mood of the song. Just my cup of tea! I remember liking your previous Civil War song very much. This one will be just as good. Even though I'm Swedish I'm very familiar with Georgia. I've been traveling in the South quite a bit and have spent time in both Atlanta and Savannah (which is an incredibly nice place, by the way, save for the nasty nats...), as well as Macon and Milledgeville (which used to be the capital of Georgia before the war, if I'm not mistaken?).

 

Your song is very melodic and has a great rythm to it. How about not adding a chorus, and instead ending each verse on the same word or short frase? I have always found story songs to benefit from that approach. Just a suggestion from a complete hack to a real pro

 

Loking forward to the finished song!

 

Lars

[duluthdan]

Gawd you are good at this !

[kwalker201]

Gawd you are good at this !

 

Yep he's very talented

[Buc McMaster]

Thanks fellas. Got a way to go with this one yet but I think it's off to a pretty fair start. Took a bit of poetic license in using '63 to make the rhyme with "sea", since it really took place in '64.......looking for a good workaround still.........may leave it though as only a CW buff would know (but I am a stickler for accuracy!).

 

.......Milledgeville (which used to be the capital of Georgia before the war, if I'm not mistaken?).

 

How about not adding a chorus, and instead ending each verse on the same word or short frase?

 

Yes, Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia during the war, up until 1868. Sherman spared most of that town because he had relatives that lived there..........yes, it was a strange conflict.

 

No chorus? But what of the change in the progression that is kind of necessary to relieve the monotony of playing the verse repetitively. Leave that out entirely? Leave it instrumental? (Which might be a valid option if I had a mournful fiddle to cover it melodically.)

 

Thanks for listening!

[OldCowboy]

Have to admit being a fancier of Civil War songs, too. Always more comfortable singing that kind of thing in Texas, but have gotten some good receptions up here from time to time. Had family on both sides of that one, as well as the Indian Wars from the same era. We're a warlike bunch, apparently😒

[Lars68]

No chorus? But what of the change in the progression that is kind of necessary to relieve the monotony of playing the verse repetitively. Leave that out entirely? Leave it instrumental? (Which might be a valid option if I had a mournful fiddle to cover it melodically

 

I probably used the word chorus incorrect, but I meant that a song does not always benefit to have sets of lyric lines repeating, especially if it has a stoytelling character. I didn't mean that you should not add a different section with other chords.

 

Here is an example. Don't know if technically it has a chorus or not. I was thinking about the lyrics and how each section ends with the same two words.

 

Either way, you know what your doing, so keep moving forward, Sir.

 

Lars

 

Hank Williams: Lost Highway

 

I'm a rollin stone all alone and lost

For a life of sin I have paid the cost

When I pass by all the people say

Just another guy on the lost highway

 

Just a deck of cards and a jug of wine

And a womans lies makes a life like mine

Oh the day we met, I went astray

I started rolling down that lost highway

 

I was just a lad, nearly 22

Neither good nor bad, just a kid like you

And now I'm lost, too late to pray

Lord I take a cost, oh the lost highway

 

Now boys don't start to ramblin' round

On this road of sin are you sorrow bound

Take my advice or you'll curse the day

You started rollin' down that lost highway

[Buc McMaster]

I was thinking about the lyrics and how each section ends with the same two words.

Ah.......I see. While that may work for some, I'm not a fan of repeating rhyme in that fashion. Think I'll go with what I've got and continue searching for the right refrain........needs to be a short, concise summation of the gist of the rest of the lyric..........hard times have come to the South.

 

Thanks for listening and taking an interest, Lars! (I was thinking the somber, minor key feel of this one might appeal to you!)

[flatbaroque]

Chord progression put to good use!Melody is how I imagined but the lyric subject matter not so.

But this works very well.

 

we heard he was the devil…… or some relation anyhow...I like that!

Good song as is whatever future tweaks occur.

[MorrisrownSal]

Interesting, creative, and musically sound.

Not the direction of lyrics I thought of either, when you posted up the chord progression... and so a pleasant surprise.

 

 

[Murph]

Very, very nice, Buc.

 

Having lived over a dozen years in the deep South of Louisiana, and being married to a Southern girl for well double those years, I too enjoy the history and flavor of those times and areas.

 

It's odd to me that the people of the South are allowing much of that proud history and heritage to be literally erased. Statues are being removed, and schoolbooks are being re-written.

 

Strange days indeed.

[Buc McMaster]

.......the people of the South are allowing much of that proud history and heritage to be literally erased. Statues are being removed, and schoolbooks are being re-written.

Yep. All over the country. Someone once said he who controls the present, controls the past. Who knows.......in another 100 years there may be no record of such events in our cultural history, owing to such efforts. One need not agree with the past to acknowledge it happened.

 

I may end up leaving the refrain part of the progression instrumental, with a melancholy fiddle providing a melody in that section.

 

Thanks for listening folks!

[dhanners623]

Great bit of writing. Very moody. Just the right air of melancholy. Sherman's March was unrelenting, so the song should be, too. We don't need to come up for air on a chorus, but that's just my opinion.

 

I will admit to some bit of confusion, though, and it stems from the reference to "'63," which you've already discussed. Listening to the song, I'm not sure if the protagonist is telling the song in the time right after Sherman's Savannah Campaign, or if he/she is telling it a century or so later. Maybe the protagonist is referring to a train depot that burned down in 1963. It is a story that can be told a century later because, as we've seen from previous comments (and my own experience living in the South. Well, Texas...) families hold on to these memories like nobody's business.

 

Excellent work.

[Buc McMaster]

Listening to the song, I'm not sure if the protagonist is telling the song in the time right after Sherman's Savannah Campaign, or if he/she is telling it a century or so later.

Well to tell the truth I'm not sure of the protagonist's place in time either.........but I decided I doesn't matter much anyway, as long as it's obvious that the tale is being told some time after the fact by an observer. As you noted, the reference to '63 is historically incorrect but I figure poetic license will allow for this. But still, it bothers me to the point of working on changing it, as in the re-take of the tune above (original take here). Still not sure I like this either, substituting "....as you can see" for "....in '63". It's one of those boards in the house that seems a bit out of kilter..........

 

Thanks, David.......appreciate the listen!

[philfish]

What a song, the refrain is beautiful especially the last one

I live in the area were most of the major battles of the civil war were fought.

I can feel there presences on these hot summer nights

[kelly campbell]

Great song...Beautiful Love everything about it.

[Lars68]

Buc, I have listened to this song quite a bit. Would you consider sharing a file (MP3, or Flac perhaps)? I'd love to have the song on my music player.

 

Lars

[Buc McMaster]

Would you consider sharing a file......

Otay, Spanky!