Back Home In Derry
Words: Bobby Sands; Music: Gordon Lightfoot


   Am                  Em
In eighteen-o-three we sailed out to sea
G            D             Am
Out from the sweet town of Derry
    Am                     Em
For Australia bound, if we didn't all drown
G                D          Am
The marks of our fetters we carried
       Am                         Em
In our rusty iron chains we cried out for our weans
    Am                    G
Our good women we left in sorrow
       Am                       Em
As the main sails unfurled, our curses we hurled
       G           D             Am
On the English and thoughts of tomorrow


       Am                           Em
At the mouth of the Foyle, bade farewell to the soil
   G          D             Am
As down below decks we were lying
  Am                      Em
O'Doherty screamed, woken out of a dream
     G         D           Am
By a vision of bold Robert dying
    Am                    Em
The sun burnt cruel as we dished out the gruel
      Am                     G
Dan O'Conner was down with a fever
      Am                      Em
Sixty rebels today, bound for Botany Bay
    G         D           Am
How many will reach their receiver


[chorus]
C        G    Am         G            Am
Oh oh oh oh I wish I was back home in Derry
C        G    Am         G            Am
Oh oh oh oh I wish I was back home in Derry


Am                         Em
I cursed them to hell as our bow fought the swell
         G             D           Am
Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight
      Am                      Em
White horses rode high as the devil passed by
       G        D        Am
Taking souls to Hades by twilight
     Am                        Em
Five weeks out to sea, we were now forty-three
   Am                       G
We buried our comrades each morning
Am                       Em
In our own slime we were lost in a time
G             D       Am
Endless night without dawning


[repeat chorus]


Am                     Em
Van Diemen's Land is a hell for a man
   G           D             Am
To end out his whole life in slavery
          Am                   Em
Where the climate is raw and a gun makes the law
        G        D             Am
Neither wind nor rain care for bravery
       Am                         Em
Twenty years have gone by, I have ended my bond
   Am                       G
My comrades' ghosts walk beside me
  Am            Em
A rebel I came, I'm still the same
       G             D              Am
On the cold winds of night you will find me


[repeat chorus]