My Rose Marie (a Soldier's Tale) Lyrics - Holiday In Dirt - Stan Ridgway

Well, now, I'm out here under guard tonight 

I wear the ball and chain 

Joined up to fight the Yankee cavalry 

Oh, we got here cold and hungry 

Then they marched us through the rain 

And I was thinkin' 'bout you then, my Rose Marie 

Oh, the cannonballs, the bayonets 

The bloody battle cry 

Oh, there's nothin' but these days of misery 

And when those Yankees got me on the wire 

I could hear the bullets fly 

And I was thinkin' of you then, my Rose Marie 

Seems like a thousand summers past 

Oh, since we rode that circus wheel 

And kissed there at the top 

For all to see 

But now outside there is a firing squad 

And now they're servin' me up my last meal 

And I was thinking of you then 

Oh, my Rose Marie 

Two guards walked me to that prison wall, 

The preacher reads a prayer 

But your face is all of heaven that I see 

And as they tie that blindfold on 

I see the sky and taste the air 

And I'm thinkin' of you then, my Rose Marie 

Oh now I can hear the rifle triggers cockin' back 

And the order shouted out 

Oh, but I feel there's somethin' wrong here, now 

Please, Lord, let it be 

Oh, all around us bombs exploding, shells are dropping here 

From the army to the south 

And then a corporal cut the ropes there on my wrists 

And I was free 

I was thinkin' about you then, my Rose Marie 

I marched back with all the others 

That had proudly wore the gray 

Finally made it back here home to Tennessee 

But all they said was that you'd married 

And you had moved away 

And I was thinkin' of you then, my Rose Marie 

Now years have passed, I'm still alone 

No new one to desire 

Still starin' into flames of memory 

I see circus wheels, and summers, 

And a face there in the fire 

And I'm thinkin' of you now, my Rose Marie 

My Rose Marie