It’s Memorial Day, which began as a commemoration of those who died in the American Civil War. Since we have no day set aside to take note of civilian victims of war, I think they should be included in Memorial Day as well. In any event, here’s a song about all the tragic losses of war, associated via Cold Mountain with the Civil War: Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett’s “Scarlet Tide,” as performed by Alison Krauss.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.