Lyr Req: Kennesaw Line (Don Oja-Dunaway)

Subject: Kennesaw Line Lyrics help
From: Jayto
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 08:35 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to the song Kennesaw Line by Claire Lynch. I am not sure if she wrote it or not but that is the only version I can find on the internet. I love that song and have visitedthe area alot when I was a kid. Can anyone help me out?

Subject: ADDPOP: Kennesaw Line (Dunaway)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 08:46 PM

Hi Jayto -
I found a YouTube recording by an unnamed male singer here (click). For some reason, at least partial lyrics can be found in this mathematics textbook. Both sources attribute the song to Don Oja-Dunnaway.
I found a somewhat different version of the lyrics here: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ehultgr/music/lyrics/k/kennesaw_line.txtI corrected a few obvious mistakes.


KENNESAW LINE
(Don Oja Dunaway/Donald J. Dunaway)

Well now I am just a simple man. I got no command of the written word.
I can only try to tell y'all about the things that I've seen and heard.
Won't you listen to this picture forever etched upon my mind?
The day that hell broke loose just north of Marietta all along the Kennesaw line.
The day that hell broke loose just north of Marietta all along the Kennesaw line.

Well, the sun rose high above us that morning on a clear and cloudless day.
A peckerwood, he tapped on a tree that would soon be shot away.
The heat blistered down through the leaves on the trees. The air seemed hot enough to catch fire.
Heaven seemed to be made of brass. The sun rose higher and higher.

And then everything got real still and quiet. My old mess mate, Walter Hood,
Said, "Them boys down there, they're up to something. I know it ain't no damn good."
Well it was then the storm broke, swept down on us, rumbling through the hills.
Walter sighed and he dropped his rifle. I heard him say something 'bout whippoorwills.

He said, "Sammy, can't you hear 'em singing, Singing for you and me?
Yes, and all the Maury Grays; Lord, carry me back to Tennessee.
God bless the First and the Twenty-seventh, the Grand Rock City Guard.
Sammy, nobody every told me that dying would be so hard.

"Sammy, I think I'm hurt real bad. Ain't this a hell of a day?
You'd best go and leave me now. I think I need time to pray.
You know how bad I been wantin' to go home, but I couldn't see rightly how.
Colonel Field ain't gonna have a choice this time. Guess I'm gonna get my furlough now."

He said, "Sammy, can't you hear 'em singing, singing for you and me?
Yes, and all the Maury Grays; Lord, carry me back to Tennessee.
God bless the cowards and the brave alike who died where the seeds of death are sown,
And I pity those poor Yankee bastards who died so far from home.

Repeat First Verse, repeating last line 3 times


Note: "Marietta" (Georgia) is pronounced "Mayretta" by many people who live there or nearby.
"Maury Grays" - a name for the First Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate Army.
BMI has the songwriter name as Donald J. Dunaway, published by Steady Arm Music.

I think Claire Lynch first recorded the song as a member of the Front Porch String Band.

Subject: RE: Kennesaw Line Lyrics help (Claire Lynch)
From: Jayto
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 12:12 PM

Once again thanks Joe you saved the day lol. I appreciate it man.
I first heard the song at a fundraiser I was playing in Whitwell Tennessee. A band called 3 on a string did a great version of it. The Banjo player with that band scored the pbs civil war documentary. I can't remember the name but it was the real big in depth one that one all the awards. I loved the song but forgot about it until about a month ago. I appreciate it man
cya
JT