Let The Band Play Dixie - Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson, Anne Hills

The news was run from Richmond

In that fading April sun

That Lee had handed Grant his sword

The war was finally won

Into the streets the people spilled

Feeling the excitement build

And the crowd around the Whitehouse milled

Asking is it true — it’s finally done?

Inside the Whitehouse Lincoln heard them calling out his name

He sat there wondering what to say there years of pain

Someone yelled

«Come out the door

And tell us what you have in store

For the rebels that have lost the war»

So out upon the porch Abe Lincoln came

He said:

We are gathered not in anger but in celebration

Let’s be grateful we are once again a single nation

Let’s stand together, reassured

Now that peace has been secured

Our nations illness can be cured

And I suggest the overture…

For this occasion

He said let the band play dixie

Play that tune that holds its head up high and proud

And let our nation once divided, bloody but unbowed

Take the swords of war and beat them back into a plow

On the day that we surrendered Mr. Lincoln told the crowd:

Let the band play dixie

A tired Union soldier

Hobbled on his only limb

Filled with bitter memories

The war had left with him

He dragged his wooden leg and cane

His face was set and creased with pain

He stumbled fell and rose again

And he wondered — what the future held for him

He spied a black child kneeling there in humble gratitude

He knelt down right beside her to share her thankful mood

Grateful words were raised in prayer

God in your sweet loving care

Our broken lives now please repair

And let our broken nation be renewed

Let the band play dixie

Play that tune that holds its head up high and proud

And let our nation once divided, bloody but unbowed

Take the swords of war and beat them back into a plow

On the day that we surrendered Mr. Lincoln told the crowd:

Let the band play dixie

Let the band play dixie