D D D G | D D A A | D D D G | D A D - |


[Verse]
        D                                 G
Oh   I come from the valley, I'm a rebel boy
 D                        A
Born on the banks of the Shenandoah
    D                        G
In sixty-one, I went to the war,
   D        A   D
To win one for Virginia!

        D                                    G         
Ya my brother went first and they called me too 
       D                              A
I was green as clover in the morning dew
      D                                     G
So I marched to the drum and I sang to the tune
 D        A        D
Carry me back to Virginia!


[Bridge]
 A                   D
Fire in the cannon, water in the well, 
 G                               A
Raced through the valley with a rebel yell
   A                          D                   G             A
I learned right quick how to march like hell and affix that bayonet.


[Chorus]
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D        A       D
Carry me back to Virginia


[Verse]
        D                                 G     
With a sword and a saddle, powder in the gun
     D                       A
We thought for a minute our fight was done
         D                          G
So they lined us up with the medals on ,
      D           A       D
And hammered us into the quicksand

           D                                G
Then they burned that valley in a blaze of fire, 
 D                            A
Cut through the lands like a red hot iron
        D                              G
Til we ran for cover where the horses piled, 
          D              A            D
Then we shivered in the cold against them


[Bridge]
         A                  D
But the war raged on like flames of hell, 
    G                                A
We dug through the pockets of the ones who fell, 
   A                    D
Dressed in rags and we ate like rats 
           G                    A
When they cut off our legs we cried!


[Chorus]
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D        A       D
Carry me back to Virginia

 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D        A       D
Carry me back to Virginia


[Alternative Verse]
         D
Then we died in the valley, 
  G
Died in the swamp, 
        D                             A
On the banks of the river where the whitetail jump

 D
Died in the ditches,
 G
Died in the fields, 
         D                         A
In the belly of a wagon ‘fore our wounds were healed

 D
Died in the wards,
 G
Starved in the camps
 D                       A
Locked in the prison so mean and rank
 D                        G
Spilled our blood in the fight to defend 
          D                   A
And they buried us all over Dixieland!


[Alternative Bridge]
 A
Down in Alabama, 
 D
Down in Caroline, 
 G                           A
Way down in Georgie, on the Tennessee line
    A                          D
We fought for the rebels, and Robert E. Lee, 
    G                        A
Now we want to go home to Virginia
    G                        A
Say we want to go home to Virginia! 


[Chorus]
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D        A       D
Carry me back to Virginia

 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
 D                 G
Won't ya carry me back? 
   D        A         D
I wanna be buried in Virginia