Tom: C C My name is John Riley F C I'll have your ear only a while F C I left my dear home in Ireland Am It was death, starvation or exile F C And when I got to America F Am It was my duty to go C F Enter the Army and slog across Texas G Am To join in the war against Mexico C It was there in the pueblos and hillsides F C That I saw the mistake I had made F C Part of a conquering army Am With the morals of a bayonet blade F C So in the midst of these poor, dying Catholics F Am Screaming children, the burning stench of it all C F Myself and two hundred Irishmen G Am Decided to rise to the call [Chorus] F C From Dublin City to San Diego G Am We witnessed freedom denied F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side [Verse] C We marched 'neath the green flag of Saint Patrick F C Emblazoned with "Erin Go Bragh" F C Bright with the harp and the shamrock Am And "Libertad pa Mexicana" F C Just fifty years after Wolftone F Am Five thousand miles away C F The Yanks called us a Legion of Strangers G Am And they can talk as they may [Chorus] F C From Dublin City to San Diego G Am We witnessed freedom denied F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side [Verse] C We fought them in Matamoros F C While their volunteers were raping the nuns F C In Monterey and Cerro Gordo Am We fought on as Ireland's sons F C We were the red-headed fighters for freedom F Am Amidst these brown-skinned women and men C F Side by side we fought against tyranny G Am And I daresay we'd do it again [Chorus] F C From Dublin City to San Diego G Am We witnessed freedom denied F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side [Verse] C We fought them in five major battles F C Churobusco was the last F C Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston Am We fell after each mortar blast F C Most of us died on that hillside F Am In the service of the Mexican state C F So far from our occupied homeland G Am We were heroes and victims of fate [Chorus] F C From Dublin City to San Diego G Am We witnessed freedom denied F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side F C So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion G Am And we fought on the Mexican side