Chords for St Patrick Battalion

_ _ _ _ _ _
_ My name is John [Bb] Riley.
[Ab] I'll have your ear only [Bb] a while.
I left my [Eb] dear home in Ireland.
It was death, [Bb] starvation, or [Cm] exile.
_ [Ab] When I got [Eb] to America, it was my [Cm] duty to go.
[Eb] _
Enter the army and slog across [Bb] Texas to join in the war against [C] Mexico. _
_ And it [Eb] was there in the huevos and hillsides that I saw the mistake I had made.
Part of a [Bb] conquering army with the morals of a [Cm] bayonet blade.
[Eb] And amidst all these poor [Bb] dying Catholics, screaming [Ab] children, the burning stench [Cm] of it all,
[Eb] myself and 200 [Bb] Irishmen decided to rise [C] to the call.
From [Eb] Dublin City to San Diego, [Bb] we witnessed [C] freedom denied.
So [Eb] we formed the St.
Patrick Battalion [Bb] and we fought on the [C] Mexican side.
[Ab] We formed the St.
Patrick [Eb]
[Bb] Battalion and we fought on the Mexican [C]
side.
_ _ _ _ [Eb]
March meet the green flag of St.
Patrick, [Ab]
emblazoned with herring [Bb] gold rye.
_ [Ab]
Right with [Eb] the harp and the shamrock and [Bb] libertad de la [Cm] república.
_ [Ab] Just 50 [Eb] years after Wollstone, [Ab] 5,000 [Cm] miles away, the Yanks called us a [Eb] legion of strangers.
And [Bb] they can talk as [Ab] they may, but from Dublin City to San [Bb] Diego, _ we witnessed [Cm] freedom denied.
So we [Ab] formed the St.
[Eb] Patrick Battalion and [Bb] we fought on the [C] Mexican side.
[Ab] We formed the St.
Patrick [Bb] Battalion and we fought [Bb] on the Mexican [Cm] side.
_ [C] _ _
_ [Eb] We fought them in Matamoros, where [Ab] their volunteers were [Eb] reaping the nuns.
In Monterey and Cerro Gordo, we fought on [Bb] as Ireland's [Cm] sons.
We were the [Ab] red-headed fighters [Eb] for freedom, _ amidst these [Eb] brown-skinned women [Cm] and men.
Side [Eb] by side, we fought against tyranny, [Bb] and I dare say we'd do it [C] again.
From Dublin City [Eb] to San Diego, [Bb] _
we witnessed [C] freedom denied.
[Ab] So we formed the St.
[Bb] Patrick Battalion and we fought on the [C] Mexican side.
[Ab] We formed the [Eb] St.
Patrick Battalion and [Bb] we fought on the Mexican [Cm] side. _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Eb] _
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_ _ _ _ _ [Cm] _
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_ _ _ [F] _ _ [Cm] _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Ab] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ [C] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
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[Cm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] We fought them in five major battles. _
Churubusco was the last. _ _
Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston, we fell after each [Cm] mortar blast.
[Ab]
Most of us [Eb] died on that hillside, at the service of [Cm] the Mexican state.
[Eb] So far from our occupied homeland, we were heroes and victims [Cm] of fate.
From [Ab] Dublin City [Eb] to San Diego, [Bb] we witnessed freedom [Cm] denied.
So [Eb] we formed the St.
Patrick Battalion and [Bb] we fought on the Mexican [C] side.
From [Ab] Dublin City [Eb] to San Diego, [Bb] we witnessed freedom [Cm] denied.
So [Ab] we formed the [Bb] St.
Patrick Battalion and we fought on the Mexican [C] side.
[Ab] We formed the St.
[Eb] Patrick Battalion [Bb] and we fought on the [C] Mexican side. _ _