Tonight’s song is short and sad. A soldier marches with the army of General Robert E. Lee near Richmond, in the Civil War. That night, a hundred thousand men fight by the river, brother against brother.
Learn from Songs · Specials: The American Civil War · B1–B2
The Ghost of General Lee
Waylon Jennings’s song of a soldier who asks God whether it is right to kill his own brother: questions to God (Is it right? Did you mean for me to…?), the past simple in a battle story, It’s been a hundred years, the future in the past (I thought we would fight no more), and there once was, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Brother against brother? Literally?
SOPHIA
Sometimes literally: families were divided, and cousins fought on opposite sides. The soldier asks God: is it right? Did you mean for me to kill my brother? And then the song jumps a hundred years forward.
PHILO
And is the war over, a hundred years later?
Before you listen: the song
Nashville
Waylon Jennings (1937–2002), from Texas, was one of the great voices of country music and a leader of the “outlaw country” movement of the 1970s, with Willie Nelson. He also narrated the television series The Dukes of Hazzard.
Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Confederate army. His army defended Richmond, the Confederate capital in Virginia, beside the James River, until 1865. Over 600,000 soldiers died in the Civil War, more than in any other American war, and in many families relatives fought on different sides.
In the song, the soldier walked behind Lee through smoke and mud. They dug holes and built a wall. When the battle came, he saw kin killing kin. A hundred years later, a great city stands where the battlefield was, but the ghost of Lee sees that people are still divided.
The hardest enemy is your own brother.
Listen: the battle and the question
PHILO
Listen once. What did the soldiers do before the battle? What does he ask God? What has changed after a hundred years?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
👻 Listen to the song: “The Ghost of General Lee” (Waylon Jennings), by Waylon Jennings.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “The Ghost of General Lee”, Waylon Jennings.Read the lyrics →
Questions to God
MARCOS
Is it right? Did you mean for me to kill my brother? Why must we fight?
SOPHIA
mean for someone to do something = intend that they do it: I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. Questions in songs and prayers are often rhetorical: the singer already fears the answer.
The past simple in a battle story
DEMETRIA
We walked behind Lee. We dug our holes. We built a wall. The river ran red.
SOPHIA
A story of action is a chain of past simple verbs: dig → dug, build → built, run → ran, see → saw, come → came.
It’s been… / there once was
PHILO
It’s been a hundred years. There once was a battlefield here. Now there is a city.
SOPHIA
It’s been + time (+ since…) = that much time has passed: It’s been ages since I saw you! There once was / were = in the past there was. Story openings: Once upon a time there was…
The future in the past
MARCOS
I thought we would fight no more. He knew there would be a battle.
SOPHIA
thought / knew / hoped + would for a future seen from the past. I hoped you would come. Remember Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain?
Sophia’s comparison: Eteocles and Polynices
SOPHIA
The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, fought for the throne of Thebes. They met at the seventh gate and killed each other. Even after death, people said, the smoke from their funeral fires split in two.
PHILO
And when Absalom rose against his father David, David told his generals: deal gently with the young man for my sake. When Absalom was killed, the victory became mourning. There is no joy in winning a war against your own family.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Is it right? / Did you mean for me to…? | questions to God / intention | Did you mean for me to kill my brother? |
| dug, built, ran, came, saw | past simple: irregular verbs | We dug our holes. |
| It’s been + time | time that has passed | It’s been a hundred years. |
| there once was / were | in the past there was | There once was a battlefield here. |
| thought / knew + would | future in the past | I thought we would fight no more. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Whose army does the soldier march with?
2. Near which city does the battle take place?
3. What shocks the soldier?
4. What does he ask God?
5. What is there now, a hundred years later?
6. Which television series did Waylon Jennings narrate?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. Did you mean me to kill my brother?
8. We our holes and built a wall. (dig)
9. The river red. (run)
10. It’s a hundred years since the battle. (be)
11. There once a battlefield here.
12. I thought we fight no more.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “It’s been ten years since I saw him.”
14. “We digged our holes.”
15. “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
16. “I thought we will win.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
A hundred years later. Choose a place near you where something important happened long ago. Describe it: There once was…, It’s been… years since…, Now there is…
Discuss. 1. Why is a war inside a country often the most painful? 2. Can a country stay divided long after a war ends? 3. What helps old enemies make peace?
Write (120–150 words). Is it right? Write a letter from a soldier whose brother is on the other side. Use the past simple, the future in the past, and a question to God or to his brother.
Now play the gamebook: two brothers, an old feud, and a bridge.Play the gamebook →