"Letters From Joe" lyrics
Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon Lyrics
I was at my brother Charlie's house
Helping like you do
We were taking out a bedroom wall
Making one room outta two
Charlie had to go to work
Leaving me there - again
When there among the studs
I found a small box made of tin
Inside I found some letters
Tied up with a silver bow
Each one began "My Darling"
And was signed "I love you, Joe"
The paper was GI issue
But the penmanship sublime
I found myself transported to
Another place and time
The letters start in '43
When he shipped over seas
They reached her nearly everyday
Till they ended in Normandy
"You're with me all the time," he wrote
"I miss you every night
It's you who gives me courage
When I go into the fight"
"I have to stop for now, though
It's just too dark to write
I'll pick it up tomorrow
When I've got some better light
I'm writing after breakfast now
We're moving out at nine
I'll write some more this evening"
But that was his final line
I thought of all the letters
That never made it home
And of those who waited for them
Those who lived their lives alone
Who gathered up their memories
And all they could recall
To tie them with a silver bow
And drop them behind a wall
I wonder who his darling was
And if she still alive
I hold these precious pages
That clearly did survive
And somewhere in the soil of France
Midst crosses in a row
Waiting for their reunion
Lies a gentle boy named Joe
Helping like you do
We were taking out a bedroom wall
Making one room outta two
Charlie had to go to work
Leaving me there - again
When there among the studs
I found a small box made of tin
Inside I found some letters
Tied up with a silver bow
Each one began "My Darling"
And was signed "I love you, Joe"
The paper was GI issue
But the penmanship sublime
I found myself transported to
Another place and time
The letters start in '43
When he shipped over seas
They reached her nearly everyday
Till they ended in Normandy
"You're with me all the time," he wrote
"I miss you every night
It's you who gives me courage
When I go into the fight"
"I have to stop for now, though
It's just too dark to write
I'll pick it up tomorrow
When I've got some better light
I'm writing after breakfast now
We're moving out at nine
I'll write some more this evening"
But that was his final line
I thought of all the letters
That never made it home
And of those who waited for them
Those who lived their lives alone
Who gathered up their memories
And all they could recall
To tie them with a silver bow
And drop them behind a wall
I wonder who his darling was
And if she still alive
I hold these precious pages
That clearly did survive
And somewhere in the soil of France
Midst crosses in a row
Waiting for their reunion
Lies a gentle boy named Joe
