Back Home In Derry
Christy Moore Lyrics
In 1803 we sailed out to sea
Out from the sweet town of Derry.
For Australia bound if we didn't all drown
And the marks of our feckles we carried
In the rusty iron chains we cried for our wanes
Our good women we left there in sorrow
As the main sails unfurled, our curses we hurled
At the English and the thoughts of tomorrow
At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farwell to the soil
O'Docherty's scream woke him out of a dream
By a vision of bold Robert dying.
The sun burned cruel and we dished out the gruel
Dan O'Connor was down with the fever
Sixty rebels today bound for botany bay
How many would reach there this evening?
Refrain: Oh....oh, I wish I was back home in Derry.
Oh....oh, I wish I was back home in Derry.
I cursed them to hell, as our bow fought the swell
Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight
Wild horses rode high as the devil passed by
Taking souls into Hades by twilight
Five weeks out to sea we were now 43
We buried our comrades each morning
And in our own slime, we were lost in the time
Endless night without dawning
1x Refrain
Van diemens land is a hell for a man
To end 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 a cold winters night you will find me.
2x refrain
Contributed by Elliot P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
A song written by Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands (Irish: Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze. Sands also wrote the lyrics of "McIlhatton", both of which were both later recorded by Christy Moore; and he wrote "Sad Song For Susan" which was later recorded as well. The melody of "Back Home in Derry" was borrowed from Gordon Lightfoot's famous 1976 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
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Baz
I’m ashamed to say I’ve known this song for years, for most of my life but I’ve only just learned that Bobby Sands wrote it. Talk about a whole new meaning 👏👏👏 🇮🇪
go149
Christy Moore robbed Gordan Lightfoot's tune & he never ever gives credit 2 the bands/singers he steels from
John Duffy
@pad fla Sands didn’t tweek the lyrics, he wrote every one of them.. the music was put to the tune of the Edmond Fitzgerald by one of Bobby’s comrades after he died.
Caveman1983
@pad fla sorry buddy your close but not spot on. Christy openly took the music and melody from the Fitzgerald song however the full lyrics in their completion were Bobby Sands. He also wrote Mc ilhatton which Christy plays too
pad fla
@C Cahill it is ya fuckin melt ..
C Cahill
@pad fla , you should be sorry because you are wrong. It is not a version of the Edmund Fitzgerald. There is always a so-called expert like you. Give yourself a rest.
Nicholas Coppins
I am Australian, and my ancestors are mainly Irish. I hear this song in 2022 and I grieve for my ancestors. They didn't all come out here like this song; but I understand a lot of history through this song. I live each day knowing the First Nations people of this land were treated no differently than the Irish. I am a rebel.
Francis Doran
God bless ye lad
CALLIT ASITIS
A rebel we came and we're still the same!
Ronan Muldoon
The blood and heart runs strongly in you 👍☘💯