St Patrick Battalion

[Intro] D Dsus2 D  D Dsus2 D

[Verse]
   D            Bm    - Bsus2
My name is John Riley,
     G                    D     - Dsus2
I'll have your ear only a while.
  G                    D      - F#m
I left my dear home in Ireland
       Bm         F#m       Bm    - A G
It was death, starvation or exile.
    G              D      - Dsus2
And when I got to America,
   G              Bm
It was my duty to go,
D                  G
Enter the army and slog across Texas
   A                       Bm     - Bsus2 Bm A
To join in the war against Mexico.

           D                        Bm        - Bsus2
And it was there in the pueblos and hillsides,
       G                     D    - Dsus2
That I saw the mistake I had made.
G                    D    F#m
Part of a conquering army
         Bm          F#m     Bm    - A G
With the morals of a bayonet blade.
          G                          D         - Dsus2
So in the midst of these poor, dying Catholics,
          G                                  Bm
Screaming children, the burning stench of it all,
  D                    G
Myself and two hundred Irishmen
  A                    Bm
Decided to rise to the call...


[Chorus]
            G           D     - Dsus2
From Dublin City, to San Diego
A                      Bm
We witnessed freedom denied
      G                          D
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
       A                     Bm  - Bsus2
And we fought on the Mexican side


[Verse]
   D                                      Bm     - Bsus2
We marched 'neath the green flag of Saint Patrick
  G                      D     - Dsus2
Emblazoned with "Erin Go Bragh"
Continues after the ad
G                            D       - F#m
Bright with the harp and the shamrock
          Bm       F#m   Bm - A G
And "Libertad para Mexicana"
G          D                   - Dsus2
Just fifty years after Wolftone
G                    Bm
Five thousand miles away
          D                     G
The Yanks called us a Legion of Strangers
    A                     Bm
And they can talk as they may

But--


[Chorus]
            G           D     - Dsus2
From Dublin City, to San Diego
A                      Bm
We witnessed freedom denied
      G                          D
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
       A                     Bm  - Bsus2
And we fought on the Mexican side


[Verse]
   D                  Bm   - Bsus2
We fought them in Matamoros
            G                          D   - Dsus2
While their volunteers were raping the nuns
   G                  D    - F#m
In Monterey and Cerro Gordo
   Bm           F#m       Bm  - A G
We fought on as Ireland's sons
            G                       D      - Dsus2
We were the red-headed fighters for freedom
             G                       Bm
Amidst these brown-skinned women and men
        D                      G
Side by side we fought against tyranny
      A                    Bm
And I dare say we'd do it again


[Chorus]
            G           D     - Dsus2
From Dublin City, to San Diego
A                      Bm
We witnessed freedom denied
      G                          D
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
       A                     Bm  - Bsus2
And we fought on the Mexican side



[Instrumental Verse]
D   Bm   - Bsus2
G   D    - Dsus2
G   D    - F#m
Bm  F#m  Bm  - A G
G   D    - Dsus2
G   Bm
D   G
A   Bm


[Instrumental Chorus]
G  D  - Dsus2
A  Bm
G  D
A  Bm - Bsus2


[Verse]
   D                  Bm            - Bsus2
We fought them in five major battles
     G             D    Dsus2
Churobusco was the last
    G                           D     - F#m
Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston
   Bm         F#m         Bm   - A G
We fell after each mortar blast
           G            D       - Dsus2
Most of us died on that hillside
       G                      Bm
In the service of the Mexican state
   D                     G
So far from our occupied homeland
        A                     Bm
We were heroes and victims of fate


[Chorus]
            G           D     - Dsus2
From Dublin City, to San Diego
A                      Bm
We witnessed freedom denied
      G                          D
So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
       A                     Bm  - Bsus2
And we fought on the Mexican side
   G                          D
We formed the Saint Patrick Battalion
       A                     Bm
And we fought on the Mexican side