We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Faded Coat of Blue

from Am I Born to Die? by The Ghosts of Johnson City

/

about

This traditional Civil War song comes to us from the northern side of the conflict, and is dated by the Library of Congress as arising in 1865 in Caledonia, New York. The ‘faded coat of blue’ refers to the Union military uniform, and the lyrics recount the last wishes of a dying Union solider who hopes his mother and sister will somehow come to know what has become of him and will eventually find his grave.

The last verse seems to change perspective to that of the dying soldier’s mother, who, although ‘long long years have vanished’ still looks and hopes for him when she hears ‘each footfall at my door’.

lyrics

My brave lad he sleeps in his faded coat of blue

In a lonely grave unknown lies a heart that beat so true

He sank faint and hungry among the famished brave

And they laid him sad and lonely within a nameless grave



No more the bugle calls the weary one

Rest, noble spirit, in thy grave unknown

I'll find you, and know you among the good and true

When a robe of white is given for the faded coat of blue



He cried, give me water and just a little crumb

And my mother she will bless you through all the years to come

Oh, tell my sweet sister, so gentle, good, and true

That I'll meet her up in heaven in my faded coat of blue



He said, my dear comrades, you cannot take me home

But you'll mark my grave for mother, she'll find me if she comes

I fear she'll not know me, among the good, and true

When I meet her up in heaven in my faded coat of blue



No dear one was nigh him to close his sweet blue eyes

And no gentle one was by him to give him sweet replies

No stone marks the sod o'er my lad, so brave and true

In his lonely grave he sleeps in his faded coat of blue



Long, long years have vanished, and though he comes no more

Yet my heart will startling beat with each footfall at my door

I gaze o'er the hill where he waved a last adieu

But no gallant lad I see, in his faded coat of blue

credits

from Am I Born to Die?, released October 20, 2015

license

tags

about

The Ghosts of Johnson City Portland, Maine

Based in Maine with musical roots in Appalachia and the Deep South, The Ghosts of Johnson City present simple and soulful versions of old mountain music, Civil War songs, coal-mining melodies, disaster chronicles, haunting murder ballads and tunes of love and loss in times of poverty. ... more

contact / help

Contact The Ghosts of Johnson City

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like The Ghosts of Johnson City, you may also like: