everyone but me is sick
can't breathe here, the air's too thick
i can't stand but i can't drop
can't save a man but i can't stop

there's not enough of us to ever stem this tide
the agony and filth is more than i can hide
i mustn't speak of failure but it's filling my head
and there's not enough beds for these stinking dead

I can't stay, i can't stop
can't save a man but i can't drop
amputate and i pray
always more casualties on the way
i can't stop, i can't cry
i'm only seventeen and i don't know why
why? why? why?

do what i can but they die anyway
the rebels give us more every night and day
a woman serves her country by being a nurse
i'm an angel bathed in blood and it's a god damned curse

cauterize the wounds and lay 'em up in a cot
the biggest men are laid to waste with one lead shot
please mister lincoln call this war to an end
general lee's getting closer and we have no more men

and i can't stay, i can't stop
can't save a man but i can't drop
amputate and i pray
always more casualties on the way
i can't stop, i can't cry
i'm only seventeen and i don't know why
why? why? why?