Back Home In Derry Lyrics

Back Home In Derry lyrics

In 1803 we sailed out to sea  

 Out from the sweet town of Derry 

 For Australia bound  

 if we didn't all drown 

 The marks of out fetters we carried 

 On our rusty iron chains we cried for out weans 

 Our good women we left in sorrow 

 As the main sails unfurled, wild curses we hurled 

 On the English and thought of tomorrow 

  

 At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farewell to the soil 

 As down below deck we were lying 

 O'Doherty screamed woken out of a dream 

 By a vision of Bold Robert dying 

 The sun burned us cruel as we dished out the gruel 

 Dan O'Connor was down with a fever 

 Sixty rebels today bound for Botany Bay 

 How many will reach their receiver? 

  

 I cursed them to hell as our bough 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 43 

 We buried our comrades each morning 

 In our own slime we were lost in a time 

 Endless night without dawning 

  

 Van Diemen's Land is the hell for a man 

 To spend out his whole life in slavery 

 Where the climate is raw and the gun makes the law 

 Neither wind nor rain care for bravery 

 Twenty years have gone by and I've ended my bond 

 My comrades ghosts walk behind me 

 A rebel I came and I'm still the same 

 On the cold winds of night you will find me 

  

 Oh, I wish I was back home in Derry