I've needed you from time to time
but never as much as now
I've grabbed some love from the whores in town
but it don't satisfy somehow
I still got the letter you sent last summer
when I fell at Mechanicsville
I guess you don't know when you'll see me again
or if you ever will
it ain't easy, this living off the land
it ain't easy, oh how I need your hand
to hold - God, no one'd believe a summer could be so damn cold
you may've heard of the cost of the Gettysburg loss
well I was there with Lee
and since Vicksburg's gone, it won't take 'em long
to capture Tennessee
sometimes I wonder if we're doing right
and if we're going to win this war
I start to forget just why we're here
and what we're fighting for
it ain't easy, living off the land
it ain't easy, oh how I need your hand
to hold - God, no one'd believe a summer could be so damn cold
Sweet Polly, I've tried to get back to you
to be by your side - but I can't leave now
Grant's army's pushing through
they tell you stories of valour and glory
but they ain't near the fact
heroes look bad when all they had
bin eaten by the worms and rats
I hear dying men calling with gangrene crawling
through their flesh and bones
I've seen thousands pleading as they lie bleeding
ain't it time to go back home
it ain't easy, living off the land
it ain't easy, oh how I need your hand
to hold - God, no one'd believe a summer could be so damn cold

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