A Ballad Blue and Grey Billy Shaw I met a man in Richmond Laid out on the street White lightning in a bottle discarded at his feet This dirty broken derelect Could barely speak my name He raised his head and looked my way The words they slowly came Play Dixie for me, Billy I'll hold my head up proud Sing about them fields of cotton Sing it for me loud Sing about the Bullruns Sing about the day I shot my brother dressed in blue While I was dressed in grey We marched out from Manassas Cannons on our tail Set fire to the cornfields Tore up all the rails Met up at the Bullrun Neither broke away The ballad of the bullrun Told in blue and grey They marched us down to Vicksburg By then we didn't care It didn't matter where we went Our death was in the air I had a couple brothers And each of them would say As one would shoot the other A prayer for blue and grey And then one day at Appomattox Madness came to cease As blue and grey had stopped the killing Settled for a peace I settled on a couple brothers' Souls for whom to pray I settled on a ballad told in blue and grey

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