We're chanting tonight on the oak and drum, it was a song to hear. A weary heart, a song of home and friends we love so dear. Many a heart that are weary tonight, reaching for the world to see.
Many a heart looking for the right to see the dawn of peace. Chanting tonight, chanting tonight, chanting on the oak and drum. We've been chanting tonight on the oak and drum, thinking of days gone by.
Of the ones that moved, that gave us the hand, and the tears that then would dry. Many a heart that are weary tonight, reaching for the world to see. Many a heart looking for the right to see the dawn of peace.
Chanting tonight, chanting tonight, chanting on the oak and drum. We are weary of war on the oak and drum, many are dead and gone. Of the brave and blue who left their home, others won't let go.
We've been fighting today on the oak and drum, many are lying near. Some are dead and dying are some. Many a one is dear.
Many a heart that are weary tonight, reaching for the world to see. Many a heart looking for the right to see the dawn of peace. Chanting tonight, chanting tonight, chanting on the oak and drum.
Transcribed by AI from the recording above. These are noisy hundred-year-old cylinders, so expect misheard words and the occasional invented line — trust your ears over the text.
This transfer and transcript: CC BY 4.0. The performance itself is public domain. Free to reuse, including commercially, with credit.
Knickerbocker Quartet
A studio ensemble rather than a touring band. Record companies kept groups of session players on call and issued them under a rotating set of house names — the personnel overlapped heavily from one to the next, and the name on the label indicated the kind of music inside more than who was performing it. Individual players were rarely credited, and for most of these ensembles the membership is now unrecoverable.
Written from UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive. Corrections welcome.