Back Home in Derry • Frank Bonfato + Chris Finnegan 7/31/24 @ Hailey's Harp & Pub, Metuchen NJ

Frank Bonfato + Chris Finnegan [Uilleann Pipes, Whistle, Bass, Vocals (as Gaeilge)] perform Bobby Sands' "Back Home in Derry," a ballad crafted from a poem penned by the late Irish nationalist and activist Bobby Sands about an Irishman's forced transportation to Botany Bay, Australia.
Forced transportation to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land [now Tasmania] was undertaken by the British between 1791 and 1853, when the sentence of penal transportation was commuted to a prison sentence in Ireland.
Bobby Sands wrote "Back Home in Derry" while held in the HM Prison Maze where he died on hunger strike in 1981.
By December 1975, nearly 2,000 Irish had been detained without charge or trial, 94.6% of whom were Catholic/Irish nationalist and 5.4% Ulster Protestants/loyalists. HM Maze was closed in 2000 and demolition began on October 2006.
Recorded live 7.31.24 at Hailey's Harp & Pub in Metuchen, NJ.
2024 RadiantLlamaCinema
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 our fetters we carried
In the rusty iron chains, we cried for our wanes
Our good women we left in sorrow
As the main sails unfurled, our curses we hurled
On the English and thoughts of tomorrow
At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farewell to the soil
As down below decks we were lying
O'Doherty screamed, woke him out of a dream
By a vision of bold Robert dying
The sun burned cruel as we dished out the gruel
Dan O'Connor was down with the fever
60 rebels today bound for Botany Bay
How many will reach their receiver?
Oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
I cursed them to hell, as her 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
5 weeks out to sea, we were now 43
We buried our comrades each morning
In our own slime, we were lost in the time
Endless night without dawning
Oh, oh oh oh-oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh oh oh-oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Van Diemen's 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
20 years have gone by and I've ended my bond
My comrades' ghosts walk behind me
A rebel I came, I'm still the same
On a cold winters night you will find me
Oh, oh oh oh-oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh oh oh-oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh oh oh-oh, I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh, oh oh oh-oh, I wish I was back home in Derry