I Heard the Yankees Yell

DESCRIPTION: "I heard the Yankees comin', I heard them give a yell, My feelings at that moment No human tongue can tell." The singer wonders if it is his time to die. He joined the army at sixteen and marched from North Carolina to the Rio Grande and the Rockies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Roberts/Agey-InThePine)
KEYWORDS: soldier travel fight
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #71, "I Heard the Yankees Yell" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [115 words]: This is a bit of a conundrum on several counts. The first few stanzas sound "The Battleship of Maine," minus the final line. The later verses remind me of "The Bravest Cowboy"; they might also be a "Texas Rangers" type. The whole thing sounds like a composite.
And then there is the fact that the singer fights the "Yankees," yet he is a North Carolinian who marches to the Rio Grande and the Rockies. The former sounds like the American Civil War; the latter sounds like the Mexican War. (There was a Confederate campaign in New Mexico, but it seems to have used all Texas troops.) So every indication is that this piece combines at least two, and maybe three, songs in its five verses. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RAInPi71

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