Once in a while, I try to air out my analytical chops on song lyrics.  An English degree has to be worth something, however little.

 

"Dixieland"  by Steve Earle

(Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band. Released in May 1999 on Grapevine (catalog no. CDGPS256)

I am Kilrain and I'm a fightin' man
And I come from County Clare
And the Brits would hang me for a Fenian
So I took my leave of there
And I crossed the ocean in the Arrianne
The vilest tub afloat
And the captain's brother was a railroad man
And he met us the boat

So I joined up with the 20th Maine
Like I said my friend I'm a fighting man
And we're marchin' south in the pouring rain
And we're all goin' down to Dixieland

I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine
And we fight for Chamberlain
'Cause he stood right with us when the Johnnies came
Like a banshee on the wind
When the smoke cleared out of Gettysburg
Many a mother wept
For many a good boy died there, sure
And the air smelted just like death

I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine
And I'd march to hell and back again
For Colonel Joshua Chamberlain
We're all goin' down to Dixieland

I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine
And I damn all gentlemen
Whose only worth is their father's name
And the sweat of a workin' man
Well we come from the farms and the city streets
And a hundred foreign lands
And we spilled our blood in the battle's heat
Now we're all Americans

I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine
And did I tell you friend I'm a fightin' man
And I'll not be back this way again
'Cause we're all goin' down to Dixieland

The speaker is named (Buster) Kilrain, a purely fictional character taken from the book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaarra by the songwriter’s own report.  Kilrain states right away that he is a “fighting man” from County Clare in Ireland.  It is not clear to whom he is speaking.  (A number of critics have identified Kilrain as the author’s voice.)

From the County Clare Library: “The county boundaries were established by the English administration in 1565. Following the defeat of the 1641 rebellion of the Catholic Confederacy, County Clare was set aside to accommodate the "delinquent proprietors", i.e. those proprietors whose land was confiscated because they did not actively oppose the rebellion.”  

Cit:  https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/countclr.htm#:~:text=The%20county%20boundaries%20were%20established,not%20actively%20oppose%20the%20rebellion.

Kilrain is from a part of Ireland specifically set aside for those who were made homeless by British rule due to their rebellion against the Crown.  “And the Brits would hang me for a Fenian, So I took my leave of there.”  We can postulate that he has had experience either fighting the Redcoats or hiding from them. 

He says he came to the U.S. on a less-than-desirable vessel.  As a poor man, he could not have afforded better accommodations.

From there, he presumably took a train inland:: “And the captain's brother was a railroad man And he met us at the boat.”

The next line begins with the conjunction, “so,” but there is nothing with which to connect it.  He says he joined the 20th Maine regiment (of the Union Army) and reiterates that he is a “fighting man.”  He alludes to the weather “pouring rain” and announces that “we're all goin' down to Dixieland.”  At this point, the listener has no more information as to why the regiment is marching southward or where they are currently located.

 

In the book, the original Kilrain character gives his reasons for fighting:

“What I’m fighting for is the right to prove I’m a better man than many. Where have you seen this divine spark in operation, Colonel? Where have you noted this magnificent equality? … There’s many a man worse than me, and some better, but I don’t think race or country matters a damn. What matters is justice.” -M. Shaara, The Killer Angels

In the next verse, he evokes the name of the commanding office of the regiment, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor turned officer.  Chamberlain was a staunch anti-slavery ordained minister and was denied leave from his college to accept a commission.  He accepted his commission anyway.  Kilrain tells the listener why he is faithful to Chamberlain:  “ 'Cause he stood right with us when the Johnnies came Like a banshee on the wind.  When the smoke cleared out of Gettysburg Many a mother wept For many a good boy died there, sure And the air smelled just like death.”

(This almost certainly refers to the now famous stand taken by the regiment and its Colonel on Little Round Top at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863.)  The Kilrain character in the book is a close companion to Chamberlain and is killed at Gettyburg, so here, the song’s storyline departs from the book.  Here, Kilrain is looking back at the battle at Gettysburg as a survivor who smelled death in the air.  In the song, he reiterates his loyalty to Chamberlain: “I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine And I'd march to hell and back again For Colonel Joshua Chamberlain We're all goin' down to Dixieland.”

In the next verse, we learn more about Kilrain himself.  “I damn all gentlemen, Whose only worth is their father's name And the sweat of a workin' man,” he says.  He is a poor man from Ireland, subjugated and made homeless by the British Crown; he has developed understandable hate for aristocracy and “gentlemen” and the inherited, not earned, title and wealth. 

One might see a parallel with the U.S Civil War when “gentlemen farmers and planters” from the South were at war against the “rabble” of the North, as the Southerners called them.  Of course, the institution of slavery would be a complete horror to a man like Kilrain.

In the next verse, Kilrain’s message becomes less personal and more universal: “Well we come from the farms and the city streets And a hundred foreign lands And we spilled our blood in the battle's heat
Now we're all Americans.”

Here, Kilrain generalizes about how war makes those who fight members of a class which includes ordinary men from farm and town, city and country and they all share the horror of fighting wars for richer and more powerful people.  He sees Americans fighting Americans for reasons that do not make sense “Now, we’re all Americans.”  Americans, New Yorkers, South Carolinians, Irish, Italian, German, white, black, it does not matter.  “We’re all Americans.”

In trying to analyze Kilrain’s character, it is interesting to note that he has likely seen the kind of violence he is seeing now for his entire lifetime as the Crown has tried to destroy all the cultures it encounters in its own little part of the world, not to mention its imperialism and jingoism around the world.

In the final verse, we get a hint as to whom Kilrain is addressing.

“I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine And did I tell you friend I'm a fightin' man And I'll not be back this way again 'Cause we're all goin' down to Dixieland”

He is possibly addressing a stranger to whom he is explaining why the army is moving south, to fight in Confederate territory.  Gettysburg is in Union Pennsylvania but was chosen by the Confederate commander, Robert E. Lee, because it would be a starting point for an assault on the Union capital at Washington.  He is possibly addressing a fellow soldier but the nature of his remarks makes that seem unlikely.  It is possible that his remarks are rhetorical, but that seems unlikely as well.  “And did I tell you friend I'm a fightin' man?”  It is interesting to note that in the first verse, he first identifies himself as a “fightin’ man” and in the last, he first identifies with the 20th Maine and then as a “fightin’ man.”

He seems to know that he will not return to the place where he is speaking.  This could be taken as a premonition that he will be killed in a subsequent battle.

No matter that the character differs between the book and Steve Earle’s song.  Both are legitimate artistic statements about war and how it affects people.  Kilrain is used by both, as Earle’s narrator and likely as Shaarra’s voice.


Steve Earle stole a part of “Dixieland” for “Galway Girl.  They both have a sound that reminds me of Irish music.  He plays octave mandolin (equates with Greek Bazouki used in early Irish folk music). on both songs  The medieval versions of this instrument evolved into the mandolin in Italy and the Bazouki in Greece.  Octave mandolin typically has F-holes and the Bazouki has  usually has one round or triangular sound hole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z63wb0LpDfQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeW9F4sGzf0

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