"When the Regiment Came Back" (8 May 1901)
Words by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from the "Harper's Weekly" of 1898
Music by Thomas Martin Towne, 1835-1912

[Source: Call No. 1644.T; LCCN unk84-182128 at the LoC]

1.
All the uniforms were blue,
All the swords and rifles new,
When the regiment came marching down the street;
All the men were hale and strong,
As they proudly moved along,
Thro' the cheers that drowned the music of their feet.

CHORUS
When the regiment went marching down the street (down the street),
When the regiment went marching down the street (down the street),
All the men were hale and strong,
As they proudly moved along,
Thro' the cheers that drowned the music of their feet (of their feet).

2.
Oh, the music of their feet,
Keeping time to drums that beat!
Oh, the glitter and the splendor of the sight!
As with swords and rifles new,
And in uniforms of blue,
The regiment went marching to the fight.

CHORUS
Oh, the glitter and the splendor of the sight (of the sight),
Oh, the glitter and the splendor of the sight (of the sight),
As with swords and rifles new,
And in uniforms of blue,
The regiment went marching to the fight (to the fight).

3.
When the regiment came back,
All the guns and swords were black,
And the uniforms had faded into gray;
And the faces of the men,
Who marched thro' the street again,
Seemed like faces of the dead who lose their way.

CHORUS
And the uniforms had faded into gray (into gray),
And the uniforms had faded into gray (into gray),
And the faces of the men,
Who marched thro' the street again,
Seemed like faces of the dead who lose their way...
Who lose their way.

4.
For the dead who lose their way,
Cannot look more gaunt and gray--
Oh, the sorrow and the anguish of the sight!
Oh, the weary, lagging feet,
Out of step with drums that beat,
When the regiment came marching from the fight.

CHORUS
Oh, the sorrow and the anguish of the sight (of the sight),
Oh, the sorrow and the anguish of the sight (of the sight),
Oh, the weary, lagging feet,
Out of step with drums that beat,
When the regiment came marching from the fight...
From the fight.