[Desdichado]

Mama, if you could see me now
I'm not the boy you knew in Macon town
They found a uniform about my size
It's a little big, I guess, but that's all right
Mama, if you could see me now.

Mama, they're treatin' me right well
The men all say I brought this good luck spell
I am the mascot of the ninth brigade
They will not march unless I lead the way
Mama, they're treatin' me right well

Mama, I do not have a gun
I'm only lucky when I'm bangin' on my drum
But I skinned a rabbit for the cook last night
And he said that I could keep his Bowie knife
Mama, I do not have a gun

Oh, mama, I lost my Arrowhead
It was big enough to strike a bobcat dead
I must have dropped it when I climbed that tree
Yankee fires as far as I could see
Mama, I lost my Arrowhead

Mama, the troops are fallin' in
And we must move while we've still got the wind
The scouts are fanning out like whooperwills
Today we're marching over Bloody Hill
Mama, the troops are fallin' in.

Oh, mama, I never thought I'd run
But something happened when I saw those Yankees come
And I've been running now a week or two
Too ashamed to run back home to you
Mama, I never thought I'd run.

Richard Shindell - Arrowhead