Sergeant York of Tennessee – Bonafide Joe | Official Lyric Video

"Sergeant York of Tennessee" is an original mountain-gospel folk song by Bonafide Joe about Alvin C. York: a man of faith who wrestled with his conscience, found courage in a place he never wanted to be, and came home to live humbly and build a school for the children of his mountains. Original song by Bonafide Joe THE HISTORY BEHIND THE SONG Alvin Cullum York was born in 1887 near Pall Mall, in Fentress County, Tennessee, on the Wolf River. As a young man he was a skilled marksman and, by many accounts, a hard-drinking brawler. Around 1915 he experienced a religious conversion and joined the Church of Christ in Christian Union, whose teaching rejected violence. Faith and conscience: When the United States entered the First World War, York was drafted in 1917. He sought exemption as a conscientious objector on religious grounds; his claims and appeals were denied, in part because his small church was not recognized as an established pacifist sect. He was inducted that November and sent to Camp Gordon, Georgia. Wrestling with scripture: His battalion commander, Major George Edward Buxton, took his doubts seriously and discussed scripture with him at length. York was given leave to go home, where he spent long hours in prayer on the mountainside before deciding he could serve with a clear conscience. Courage: On 8 October 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France, then-Corporal York was part of a small patrol sent to get behind German machine-gun positions. After the patrol came under fire and several Americans were killed or wounded, York helped silence the machine guns, and the survivors brought back 132 German prisoners. He received the Medal of Honor and was promoted to sergeant. Humility: Back home he was celebrated as a hero, including a grand welcome in New York City in 1919, and he turned down a flood of commercial offers to cash in on his fame. Instead he returned to Tennessee, married, farmed, and worked for education in his region. He founded the York Agricultural Institute in Jamestown, Tennessee, which still operates today as a public high school. ABOUT THE LYRICS The song is a ballad, not a history lecture, and it compresses some things: • "He marched one hundred thirty-two men home alive" is the song's telling. The 132 were German prisoners taken by the surviving members of York's patrol, not American soldiers rescued. • York was a corporal on 8 October 1918; the title "Sergeant" came with his later promotion. • The words York writes and says in the song, and the verses the major reads, are lyrics, not documented quotations. • York declined many early offers, but he did later agree to the 1941 film about his life. • The final chorus lines about his medal and schoolhouse trees are poetic images of his choices. It is about: • Faith that changes a life • Conscience, wrestled with honestly • Courage in the worst of places • Humility: coming home and staying humble LYRICS The full lyrics appear on screen and in the English captions (CC). CHAPTERS 0:00 Spoken Intro – Thou shalt not kill 0:25 Verse 1 – Pall Mall, by the Wolf River bend 0:51 Verse 2 – The letter came in 1917 1:16 Chorus – A farm boy on his knees 1:43 Verse 3 – The major and the Bible 2:09 Spoken Bridge – October eighth, the Argonne woods 2:32 Verse 4 – This uniform ain't for sale 2:56 Final Chorus – He came back home to Pall Mall 3:26 Spoken Outro – Coming home and staying humble CREDITS Original song by Bonafide Joe Visuals: AI-assisted illustrations in a Tennessee mountain-hymn print and hand-tinted engraving style, with slow parallax motion and no strobing. People are shown only from behind, in silhouette or at a distance; no real faces are depicted. #BonafideJoe #SergeantYork #AlvinYork #GospelFolk #LyricVideo