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...
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"
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--
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
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
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
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