An anti-draft song set during the Civil War era. Better late than never.
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Story behind the song
By July 1862 the War Between the States had sttled into a military stalemate. President Abraham Lincoln, facing the reality that the struggle would be a long and bloody ordeal, called for 300,000 volunteers to join the Union Army.
This promptly inspired poet James Sloan Gibbons to compose a stirring, patriotic call-to-arms: "We Are Coming, Father Abra'am, 300,000 More." The poem was set to music by no less than eight different tunesmiths including Stephen Foster, then in the twilight of his brilliant career.
But despite this impressive array of 19th-century literary and musical firepower, volunteer sentiment in the North seems to have been just about played out, and within a year Lincoln's government was forced to resort to conscription to fill the Union ranks.
The lyric is a take on the Old Testament tale of Abraham and Isaac, as told by Sarah.
Lyrics
O Father Abraham
You don't need my boy
You don't need my boy
He's all I have
He's all I have
Will we be gone
For a long, long time?
What will we need
To bring with us?
Bring the fire
Bring the sword
Bring the son of your Sarah
Bring the fire
Bring the sword
Bring the son of your Sarah
O Father Abraham
You have your legions
You have your legions
While I have one
My only son
O Father Abraham
You don't need my boy
You don't need my boy
He's all I have
He's all I have.