Lyrics
The Connacht Rangers
It was on those lonely nights in the Punjab
We sat around the hall
And we spoke about old Ireland
And our problems great and small
You see these things they much concern us
Though we were far from home
Us men who had adventured these foreign lands to roam
We just returned from Europe
Where we fought a bloody war
And lost thousands, thousands of our gallant men
At Suvla and Sud El Bar
The most decorated regiment
This army's ever known
We fought everybody's battles
But the battles of our own
We built this bloody empire
Where on the sun it never sets
With gallantry and bravery
Our soldiers met their deaths
But our masters now betray us
While we are far from home
They persecute our families
Our wives, our children
Mothers, brothers, fathers
While we left them all alone
But it's all for England's power and glory
For England's greed and might
But far better it was for Ireland
And a cause that could be right
To the tiny homesteads of the west
The recruiting sergeant came
He promised all a future bright
So our brave young men went off to fight
For the empire and her laws
Many's the victory they had won
Many hardships they had seen
They fought and died, side by side
Their enemies they had defied
For a foreign king
And the drums they were a-beating time
While the pipes did loudly play
When Daly died, did the drums did beat
That morning in the dark shy heat
Now we beat the drums no more
While serving in a far off land
The news had come from home
Of a people's fate, it did relate
Of the tans and their campaign of hate
And were fighting on their side
"Arise, arise," young Daly cried
"Come join along with me
We'll strike a blow for liberty
Our regiment will mutiny
And support our friends at home"
And the drums they were a-beating time
While the pipes did loudly play
When Daly died, did the drums did beat
That morning in the dark shy heat
Now we beat the drums no more
And the Colonel stood before his troops
Those men who mutinied
He told them of those honors won
But the men stood in the blazing sun
Said we'll fight your war no more
For cannon fodder we have been
For the French at Waterloo
At Suvla's tide and Sud El Bar
We've fought your every bloody war
We'll fight your war no more
And the drums they were a-beating time
While the pipes did loudly play
When Daly died, did the drums did beat
That morning in the dark shy heat
Now we beat the drums no more
Those men got penal servitude
Now Daly's condemned to die
Far from his home, in Tyrone's pass
This young man's died in Ireland's cause
Far from his native land
And the drums they were a-beating time
While the pipes did loudly play
When Daly died, did the drums did beat
That morning in the dark shy heat
Now we beat the drums no more
We'll beat the drums no more
We'll beat the drums no more
