Civil War Song in Praise of the Bean (video)

It is one thing to like a dish, but totally another to write a song in its praise!!!  This is a great Civil War period song performed by the  97th Regimental String Band.  I think you will really enjoy this!

Thank you to "Donna" on http://civilwartalk.com/ for the lyrics.

Both sides ate lots of beans during the Civil War and thereafter. They even sang songs about beans. One song sung by the soldiers during Civil War was "The Army Bean". The words were written by Anonymous or unknown and the tune was to "Sweet Bye and Bye".

"There's a spot that the soldiers all love,
The mess tent's the place that we mean,
And the dish we like best to see there
Is the old-fashioned white army bean.

'Tis the bean that we mean,
And we'll eat as ne'er ate before,
The army bean, nice and clean,
We'll stick to our beans evermore.

Now the bean in its primitive state
Is a plant we have all often met,
And when cooked in the old army style
It has charms we can never forget.

'Tis the bean that we mean,
And we'll eat as we ne'er ate before,
The army bean, nice and clean,
We'll stick to our bean evermore.

The German is fond of sauerkraut,
The potato is loved by the Mick,
But the soldiers have long since found out
That through life to our beans we will stick.

'Tis the bean that we mean,
And we'll eat as we ne've ate before,
The army bean, nice and clean,
We'll stick to our beans evermore."

Song from "Singing Soldiers: A History of the Civil War in Song". by Paul Glass and Louis C. Singer, Da Capo Press, Inc., New York, N.Y. 1964.