So, I've tried recording this like A THOUSAND TIMES and this is the first time I made it through the whole song with only 3 or 4 minor mistakes.
Click here to listen
The lyrics are from the poem, "The Dead Drummer Boy" -- no author is given. You can read the original poem here. I made some slight changes to the words, which you can read below.
In tangled roots that lined the ravine,
Where the fierce fire fight had already been,
Where the dead in scattered heaps were seen,
Midst the darkling forest shade and sheen
A boy speechless lay
The setting sun which glanced the place
In slanting lines, like amber rain
Fell on the drummer's upturned face
Where death had left his gory trace
In bright crimson stain
No more his hand shall fiercely beat
The shrill reveille or the long roll retreat
Nor sound the charge in smoke and heat
Of fiery conflict and bitter defeat
Where gallant men fell.
The silken lids of his once bright eyes
Lie open to the swarming flies
His lips were parted by a long-drawn sigh
That mounted upwards across the sky
On wild martial air.
Yet may there be in some happy home,
A mother reading of the long lost gone
Who chanced to view the name of her son
And move her lips, “God's will be done!”
Oh how the tears will fall
But more than this what tongue shall say?
His boyish wish for glory and fame?
He lived, he died, it's all the same
But who will write the drummer boy's name?
Yes who will write the drummer boy's name?
---
Chords: F Dm F Dm C F C C7 F A# Dm A# F A7 Dm A7 Dm C C7 C C7 F (repeat) A Dm C7 F A# Dm A# Dm A7 Dm A7 Dm A Dm
Hmm, re-reading this, I just realized "boyish fame" doesn't make sense. Should be "Boyish wish" DANG IT! Oh well. I've changed the lyrics above.
