Back home in
Derry (video)
Em - G - D - A - Em - G - D - Em - Bm
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1. In 1803 we sailed out to sea,
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A Em
out
from the sweet town of Derry.
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For Australia bound, if we
didn't all drown,
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Em
and
the marks of our fetters we carried.
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In our rusty iron chains we
cried for our weans,
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our
good women we left in sorrow.
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As the mainsails unfurled, our
curses we hurled
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on
the English, and thoughts of tomorrow.
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2. At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farewell to the soil,
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A Em
as
down below decks we were lying.
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O'Doherty
screamed, woken out of a dream
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by a
vision of bold Robert dying.
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G
The sun burned cruel as we
dished out the gruel,
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Bm
Dan O'Connor was down with a
fever.
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Sixty rebels today bound for
Botany Bay,
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A Em
how
many will reach their receiver.
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O........h, I wish I was back home in Derry. (2x)
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3. I cursed them to hell as her bow fought the swell,
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A Em
our
ship danced like a moth in the firelight.
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White horses rode high as the
devil passed by,
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Em
taking
souls to Hades by twilight.
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Five weeks out to sea, we were
now forty-three,
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Bm
we
buried our comrades each morning.
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In our own slime we were lost
in a time
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of
endless night without dawning.
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O........h, I wish I was back home in Derry. (2x)
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4. Van Diemen's land is a hell for a man,
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to
vent out his whole life in slavery.
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Where the climate is raw and
the gun makes the law,
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neither
wind nor rain care for bravery.
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G
Twenty years have gone by, I've ended my bond,
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Bm
my comrades
ghosts walk behind me.
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A rebel I came, I'm still the
same,
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A Em
on
the cold winters night you will find me.
+ CHORUS
(4x) ...
(orig. = capo 3rd)
(Christy Moore)