Truth crushed to the earth is truth still . . .: Shame Upon the Southern Man Who Wears the Coat of Blue

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Shame Upon the Southern Man Who Wears the Coat of Blue

There are several excellent renditions of the old post-war song “Wearing of the Gray.”

The song is based upon the old Irish tune “Wearing of the Green.” Which contains the lyrics:

Oh, Paddy dear, did you hear the news that's going 'round?

The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground
Saint Patrick's Day no more to keep, his color can't be seen
For there's a bloody law again' the Wearing of the Green. . . .
She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen
For they're hanging men and women there for Wearing of the Green.

It should be no surprise that one of my favorite renditions of “Wearing of the Gray” was recorded by the Irish Patriot Derek Warfield.

You can find his lyrics here (with some added comments in parenthesis):
https://www.songlyrics.com/derek-warfield/the-wearing-of-the-gray-lyrics/

Some of his most moving and convicting lyrics are these:

Now honor to the soldier
Who still is firm and true,
And shame upon the Southern man
Who wears the coat of Blue!

I say “convicting”, for I in fact wore a coat of Blue, as I served the evil empire, as an officer of US Marines for eight years. I would never do it again. If I had understood then what I do now, I would never have done it then. I warn all young Christians and all young Southerners against joining the empire’s military.

Do you want to be employed against your fellow Southerners when they stand against the oppression of the empire (consider Texas attempting to protect its own borders)? Or consider the coming secession that looms on the horizon?
Do you want, as we would sometimes joke, to “travel to distant lands, meet exotic people, and kill them” [or perhaps be justifiably killed by them]?
Do you want to be billeted with or led by sodomites and mentally ill self-mutilators (trans-sexuals)?
Do you want to be commanded by those who hate your heritage, hate your ancestors, and hate your faith?

I pray that I may be forgiven for having donned that dishonorable coat of blue. Lord knows I did it in ignorance and in misplaced “patriotism.”