Have you heard the glorious news of Shovels and Rope’s newest ditty? Out today, originally posted by Paste, “The Fall of Charleston” is Cary Ann and Michael’s rendition of a catchy 19th-century tune that will appear on ATO Records’ new compilation, “Divided and United: Songs of the Civil War.”
The song, which chronicles the Confederate army’s evacuation of Charleston in 1865 as General William Sherman threatened to march on the Carolinas, builds the signature warbling, upbeat ShoRo sound into the straightforward marching anthem—demonstrated in an earlier version released by Ernie Ford for the War’s centennial in 1961.
Along with Charleston’s favorite singer-songwriter duo, “Divided and United” will feature covers by Loretta Lynn, Old Crow, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Taj Mahal, and T. Bone Burnett just to name a few on the dual disc release next month to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the War of Northern Aggression. Randall Poster, a music supervisor who has Wes Anderson, Martin Scorcese, and Maid in Manhattan credits to his name, is heading up album’s release.
The earliest dated reference we can find to the song is in an archived version of the New York Times dating back to 1900 that likely refers to an undated song sheet of lyrics for the tune.
Check out the Paste Magazine post to listen.
Here’s a look at the lyrics:
Oh have you heard the glorious news, is the cry from every mouth,
Charleston is taken, and the rebels put to rout;
And Beauregard the chivalrous, he ran to save his bacon—
When he saw Gen. Sherman’s “Yanks,” and “Charleston is taken!”(Chorus)With a whack row de dow!
A hunkey boy is Gen. Sherman:
Whack row de dow!
Invincible is he.This South Carolina chivalry, they once did loudly boast;
That the footsteps of a Union man, should ne’er polute their coast.
They’d fight the Yankees two to one, who only fought for booty;—
But when the “udsills” came along it was “Legs do your duty.”And from the “Sacred City,” this valiant warlike throng;
Skedaddled in confusion, although thirty thousand strong—
Without a shot, without a blow, or least sign of resistance,
And leaving their poor friends behind, with the “Yankees” for assistance,And again o’er Sumter’s battered walls, the Stars and Stripes do fly,
While the chivalry of Sixty-one in the “Last ditch” does lie;—
With Sherman, Grant and Porter too, to lead our men to glory;
We’ll squash poor Jeff’s confederacy, and then get “Hunkydory.”
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