Elizabeth Cotten was a blues and folk singer/guitarist born in Chapel Hill, NC in 1893.

During her teens, she wrote a song called “Freight Train,” which was then recorded on vinyl in 1956. It was covered over a dozen times by The Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and many more. Later, it was stolen via copyright by a British songwriter, but was eventually returned due to pressure within the music community.

Mrs. Cotten spent her 60s and 70s playing large concerts, and at 80 was recorded for television, playing her right-handed guitar upside down, as she was a lefty.

She passed away in 1987, after about 80 years of making the world a more beautiful place. She is gone, but not forgotten, for somewhere in the world every day there is a US Marine Corps platoon singing her lyrics – knowingly, or not.

The videos in this article show Mrs. Cotten and a USMC running cadence.

The comparison is to the lyric at the 1:53 mark, “When I die, bury me deep.” It may seem a small comparison to just have 1 lyric from a life’s body of work, and from people who have mostly not heard of it’s composer, but that is more – not less – to the point. Cotten’s work transcended not just musical styles, but lifestyles.

Her work continues to touch the lives of millions of service members because those who face death as a matter of their duty think deeply on it, and when the right words come, the poetry is pervasive.

 

 

 

The one I had always heard was: When I die, bury me deep/with my M-16 down at my feet, which is very close to the original request to be “buried on old Chestnut Street.” However, the M-16 cadence is now a part of history, as well, as the weapon is obsolete due to having been phased out in 2015.

The M-16 is out, but Cotten is still in – whether the marines know it or not.