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lyrics

I was baptized in the Antietam
preacher said I was good to go
said the Lord'd been here once
and put on quite a show
said we needed a good cleansing
then he cracked open a beer
said son do you realize
just what happened here

My parents were born and raised
you can't choose where you're spit out
daddy worked the railroads
left mamma with all the doubt
she said the house was haunted
with dying union boys
and she'd sit up until the dawn
complaining about the noise

Sharpsburg...Antietam
or by any other name
you can call it what you will
it was a bad day just the same

Daddy didn't know what to do
so he'd take her by the hand
and force her out into these fields
to make her understand
that the war is surely over
you can look it up he said
the living go on living
and the dead they remain dead

So I grew up in a bottle
moved on to amphetimines
figured I'd take my chances
but got stuck in between
daddy died in '90
right before the first gulf war
mamma said don't you dare boy
but I went and joined the corps

Sharpsburg...Antietam
or by any other name
you can call it what you will
it was a bad day just the same

I came home a little later
missing pieces of my mind
I'd sleep out in bloody lane
when I needed to unwind
started to hear the same things
that mamma said she heard
I'd seen the ghosts myself sir
now their company I preferred

It's a big ol' shitty world
it's kill or be killed
look around you mister
guns lining these hills
you wanna get out of here
you gotta cut your way through
too much water under that bridge
too much that we got used to

Sharpsburg...Antietam
or by any other name
you can call it what you will
it was a bad day just the same

credits

from Civil War Battle Ballads, released December 5, 2008

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Tom Flannery Scranton, Pennsylvania

"One of the most gifted songwriters to emerge at the turn of the century"
-- The All Music Guide

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