Lyrics for Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) as interpreted by haruki

Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) Lyrics
Heart-carved tree trunk, Yankee bayonet
A sweetheart left behind
Far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas
That's where my true love lies

Look for me when the sun-bright swallow
Sings upon the birch bough high
But you are in the ground with the wolves and the weevils
All a'chew upon your bones so dry

But when the sun breaks
To no more bullets in Battlecreek
Then will you make a grave
For I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then
Then

When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee
Made a seam to hem me in
There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless
Got my heart right pierced by a pin

But oh, did you see all the dead of Manassas
All the bellies and the bones and the bile
Though I lingered here with the blankets barren
And my own belly big with child

But when the sun breaks
To no more bullets in Battlecreek
Then will you make a grave
For I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then
I will be home then

Stems and bones and stone walls too
Could keep me from you
Skein of skin is all too few
To keep me from you

But oh, my love, though our bodies may be parted
Though our skin may not touch skin
Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow
I will come on the breath of the wind

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 46 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
nicola234
08-18-2006

Rated 0 
excellent (:
my favourite part is the last verse

Log in to reply
dnowik
08-21-2006

Rated 0 
I think this might be my favorite song on the new album.

Log in to reply
CautionarySong
08-23-2006

Rated 0 
Such a beautiful and amazing song. i love the new album

Log in to reply
Dvel
08-30-2006

Rated 0 
This is clearly the best song on the new album. Laura Veirs has such a good voice. It seems she has replaced Petra Haden

Log in to reply
lizziew
08-30-2006

Rated 0 
Laura Veirs didn't replace Petra. No one did. John and Jenny have been singing the harmonies. And I LOVE this song. Their voices really compliment each other

Log in to reply
farewell2RMS
09-06-2006

Rated 0 
love love love
i cannot wait to see them in october!

Log in to reply
RemyLebeau
09-07-2006

Rated 0 
Great album, but what's with the over-use(in my opinion) of the word "grave?" In this song, the Island, and Summersong he uses the word. It's not that I do not like songs about death(au contraire), it's just that I would expect more diverse word choices from the Decemberists is all.

Log in to reply
JDSalinger
09-07-2006

Rated 0 
My favorite on thew new album. It sounds just folky enough and still has the decemberists feel. Petra has a beautiful voice - is this the first duet the decemberists have done?

Log in to reply
knobsack
09-14-2006

Rated -1 
I suspect it's "wolves and weevils" not "voles and weevils"

Log in to reply
1 Reply
TempestVIII
09-21-2006

Rated 0 
Best song on the new CD! Manassas was the site of two American Civil War battles in the state of Virginia. Oconee is a city in South Carolina and a county in South Carolina and Georgia. The couple is most likely from Oconee in South Carolina, separated by war, forever by death.

Log in to reply
haruki
10-05-2006

Rated +1 
The reason I transcribed this song (did a great deal of pecking about to find "Oconee" too) was because Manassas is where I grew up. It's cool when a band you love namedrops your hometown.

Log in to reply
musicforlife!
10-09-2006

Rated 0 
This song reminds me of the book/movie Cold Mountain and how it follows both stories of a soldier at war (this one presumably dead) and his sweetheart left at home.

I got my hands on a pre-release of this album and then bought it when it came out, and Laura Veirs' vocals are slightly different. Colin's are the same. I'm just curious as to why this would happen.

Log in to reply
OmnipotentSeal
10-09-2006

Rated 0 
"Scaly skin is all too few" should be "This skein of skin is all too few." ;)

Log in to reply
nowxisxforever
10-09-2006

Rated 0 
This is definitely my favorite song off the new album. I don't really like any of the others.

Log in to reply
kyle171
10-09-2006

Rated -1 
*skein of skin
*bullets in Battlecreek
*wolves and the weevils

And represent Oconee county Georgia, even though I agree that it's probably mentioning Oconee SC.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
hippomaiden
10-10-2006

Rated 0 
This is such a wonderful song. I love the new album. The Decemberists are such beauties.

Log in to reply
haruki
10-11-2006

Rated 0 
kyle171: Man, you think you do a good job, and then you mis-hear stuff that should be obvious. Thanks for the corrections. My face is appropriately red. :P Though, to be fair, Colin doesn't exactly make it easy all the time.

Log in to reply
feeltheglee
10-20-2006

Rated 0 
I loved this song from the first time I heard it. I love the combination of the vocals and the background music.

The first time I heard it, I didn't know what the lyrics were, though. The only line I comprehended was "All the dead at Manassas". The Battle at Manassas, also known as The Battle of Bull Run, was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, and people had gone to watch it, bringing blankets and picnics.

The first time I listened to it with the lyrics at hand, I got chills while hearing "Though I lingered here with the blankets barren / And my own belly big with child" because it was then that I realized that the soldier and his girl back home weren't just casual summer lovers, but that they had a child on the way.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
nonsequiter302
12-18-2006

Rated 0 
This is probably my favourite off the new album.
And I think I have really bad hearing because a few of these lyrics sound incorrect to me.

The odd thing is is that after I listened to this song I also watched Cold Mountain for the first time; and they fit together really well, it's almost erie!

This song is so beautiful but so sad.. :( :)

Log in to reply
pendragon23
12-31-2006

Rated 0 
When I heard this I immediately thought of a letter I heard during a class 10 years ago, which I've been talking about ever since. I just googled and found out it had been featured in Ken Burns' Civil War. It was Sullivan Ballou's goodbye letter to his wife, written a week before his death at the 1st Bull Run (Manassas). He was a Yankee from Rhode Island, but the verse about the breath of the wind reminded me of this:

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .

Log in to reply
Johnlennnnon
01-03-2007

Rated 0 
This is my favorite song. I love how he says "skin does not touch skin"... There is just this way he says it...

Log in to reply
LittleUnicornBoy
01-10-2007

Rated +1 
providing this song takes place during the American Civil War, I think the "stone walls" line might be a pun :D

Log in to reply
nagerous
01-11-2007

Rated 0 
there stands Jackson like a stonewall!

Log in to reply
chaigirl44
01-15-2007

Rated 0 
This song is definitely growing on me. Out of all the songs on the new album its the one that always gets stuck in my head. its definitely a civil war love story. being from little rhody i think that would be really cool if the song is based on the letter that pendragon posted.

Log in to reply
dertgerl
01-17-2007

Rated 0 
I think that this song also strikes a chord closer to home, what with war in Iraq and all. I don't know about you folks, but I happen to know quite a handfull of ladies who are here with their children while their husbands are off at war. Isn't it wonderful? Despite the 1500 years or so, people are still the same. Different stuff on the outside, but basically the same within.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here