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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 22:46:01 -0400
From: Steve Loddo 
Subject: m/misc_traditional/back_home_in_derry.crd

^ÓBACK HOME IN DERRY^Ô
Traditional
 
Intro:   D  A  Bm  A  Bm  (x2)
 
 
   Bm       D
In 1803, we sailed out to sea,
A            E             Bm
Out from the sweet town of Derry,
    Bm                    D
For Australia bound-if we didn't all drown-
    A            E          Bm
the marks of our fetters we carried.
         E                      D
From the rusty iron chains, we cried for our we^Òuns
        E                     Fm
And the good women we left in sorrow!
       Bm                       D
As the mainsails unfurled, our curses we hurled
       A           E              Bm
At the English and thoughts of tomorrow.
 
 
From the mouth of the foil, bid farewell to the soil
Down below decks we were lying.
Old George he screamed, driven up from a dream
Of a vision of old Robert dyin.
As the sun burned the crew we dished out the gruel,
Dan O^ÒConnor was down with a fever
Sixty rebels today, bound for Botany Bay
How many would reach their receiver?
 
 
CHORUS:
 
D A   Bm         A            Bm
Ohhh I wish I was back home in Derry!
 
Ohhh I wish I was back home in Derry!
 
 
We cursed them to Hell, as our bow fought the swell.
Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight.
White horses rode high, as the Devil passed by,
Taking souls to Hades by twilight.
Five weeks out to sea: we were now forty-three,
We buried our comrades each morning
And in our own slime we were lost in a time
Endless night without dawning
 
Chorus
 
Van Diemen's land is a Hell for a man
To live out his whole life in slavery,
Where the climate is raw, and the gun makes the law.
Neither wind nor rain cares for bravery.
Twenty years have gone; I've ended my bond.
My comrades' ghosts walk behind me.
A rebel I came, and I'm still the same-
On a cold Irish night you may find me.
 
Chorus