FOR DIXIE AND UNCLE SAM
(Music: Ernest R. Ball / Lyrics: J. Keirn Brennan)


Nora Bayes - 1916
Ernest R. Ball & The Peerless Quartet - 1916
George Ballard - 1916
Columbia Quartet - 1916


In Maryland, in Maryland
Lives a mother old and grey
Alone she stands and waves her hand
To her boy who is going away
She said, I'm proud, young man
Of your uniform of tan
Of the sword that you carry, too
I've watched it twice before
Go bravely off to war
For the Grey and then for the Blue

Your Granddad fought in the War of Sixty-One
And he wore a suit of grey
Your Father, too, in a uniform of blue
Off to Cuba sailed away
One wore the grey and the other the blue
But the blood of both's in you
And I'm giving you up to Old Glory,
But I'm mighty proud that I am
You're all I've got, but be Johnny on the spot
For Dixie and Uncle Sam

Though far away, the boy each day
As the western sun goes down
He mails a note he proudly wrote
In a tent near a far border town
And says, "Dear mother mine
When the word goes down the line
To get ready the foe is near
The danger's in the air
I reckon I'll be there,
As your words still ring in my ear"

Your Granddad fought in the War of Sixty-One
And he wore a suit of grey
Your Father, too, in a uniform of blue
Off to Cuba sailed away
One wore the grey and the other the blue
But the blood of both's in you
And I'm giving you up to Old Glory,
But I'm mighty proud that I am
You're all I've got, but be Johnny on the spot
For Dixie and Uncle Sam



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - February 2016)