Give My Love to Sophie

by Kray Van Kirk

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NOTES: My mother is the family historian, and among all of her collected diaries and journals, pictures and letters, is a letter between friends during the United States' Civil War, discussing those who had entered military service, and those who had already died while serving in it. A few days after I found the letter, the first Gulf War began, fully televised and in color.

Standard tuning

Give my love to Sophie, from a train so far away
The boys are marching all in line, they say today's the day
And the flags are all a-flying, on a morn so bright and clear
The same sun on those other ones, so far and oh, so near
And what will happen when we meet, well I really cannot say
So give my love to Sophie, from a thousand miles away

Please give her this letter, just to tell her how I fare
The food is bad but spirits good, does she know how much I care
And they say it is an honor, just to do what I have done
To march in line with other men, and learn to use a gun
But she doesn't care for riches, or parades of high degree
And she fears I will come home to her, with a scar she cannot see

Listen you can hear the sound of marching feet the country 'round
Bound for glory under a bloody sky
And both sides have the same parades, wearing blue or wearing grey
Brother killing brother in the sun
Listen I can almost hear the guns

My father was a farmer, and I'm a farmer's son
My family's learned to work the land, and watch the harvest come
But here my work is different, my plowshare's now a sword
And a different kind of reaping, has become my reward
For blood is poured out on the land, like rain upon the fields
And I wonder if I'll ever see, the crop this harvest yields

Listen you can hear the sound of marching feet the country 'round
Bound for glory under a bloody sky
And both sides have the same parades, wearing blue or wearing grey
Brother killing brother in the sun
Listen I can almost hear the guns

Give my love to Sophie. as the train now pulls away
I hope you will remember, what you see here this day
And if by some chance I should fall, as I suppose I may
Please give my love to Sophie, from a thousand miles away