Music Monday is a meme, created by Drew at The Tattooed Book Geek, where I focus on a song I absolutely love and feel needs to be shared.

Song: “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)”
Artist: The Decemberists
Album: The Crane Wife (2006)

Lyrics taken from genius.com

Soldier: Heart carved tree trunk, Yankee bayonet
A sweetheart left behind

Girl: Far from the hills of the sea-swelled Carolinas
That’s where my true love lies

Soldier: Look for me when the sun-bright swallow
Sings upon the birch bough high

Girl: But you are in the ground with the voles and the weevils
All a-chew on 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

Girl: When I was a girl how the hills of Oconee
Made a seam to hem me in

Soldier: There at the fair when our eyes caught, careless
Got my heart right pierced by a pin

Soldier: But O did you see all the dead of Manassas
All the bellies and the bones and the bile?

Girl: No, 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

Soldier: And stems and bones and stone walls too
Could keep me from you
This skein of skin is all too few
To keep me from you

Solider and Girl: But O 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

Taken from The Decemberists’ 2006 album, The Crane Wife, “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)” is an up-beat folk tune that gives one side to the multi-faceted indie band. A duet sung by Laura Viers and the band’s singer Colin Meloy, the lyrics tell of a man who died as a soldier in the American Civil War. The verses move back and forth between the soldier and his love, with the choruses being taken up by both voices. Acoustic guitar and kick drum drive the song along at a swaying pace to accompany the duet of voices. The lament of lost love is supplanted by the springiness of the song and makes for a great tune to listen to in the warmth of a spring sun.

If you enjoyed this song, please feel free to check out the artist’s social media accounts below!

Band Links:
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The image used in this post can be found through the hyperlink below.
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