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Colony

Damien Dempsey
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
I  Sing the song of the colony,
 How many years and your still not free,
And  your mother cries,Oh and you ask God why.
Greed  is the knife, and the scars run deep,
 How many races with much reason to weep,
And  your children cry, Oh and you ask God why.
Annie,  she came from Dunlaven town,
 The TB came, and killed her family all around,
Population  boomed, livin' in two rooms.
Katie  she came from down Townsend street,
 Ten in her bed, and no shoes on their feet,
1916  came, they played the patriots game.
Freddy,  he came form the Iveagh flats,
 Tenement slums and infested with rats,
Sleepin  on damp straw, tryin not to break the law.
Thomas  he came from Kilmainah Mayo,
 Semi starvation was the only life you know,
In  a two room shack, then jailed in Letterfrack.
I  sing the song of the colony,
 How many years and your still not free,
And  your mother cries, oh and you ask God why.
Greed  is the knife, and the scars run deep,
 How many races with much reason to weep,
And  your children cry, oh and you ask God why.
I  look to the east, I look to the west,
 To the north and the south,
 And im not too impresed.
Time  after time after crime after crime,
 They rape, rob, pilage, enslaved, and murdered,
Jesus  Christ was their God,
 And they done it in his name,
 So he could take the blame if its not all a game,
With  Bible in one hand,and a sword in the other,
 They came to purify my land, E
 And my Gaelic Irish mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers
 With our own anchient customs, laws, music, art,
Way  of life and culture
 Tribal in structure, we had a civilisation,
 When they were still neanderthal nations
We  suffer with the Native American,
 The Indian in Asia,
 Aboriginal Australia,
The  African people with their history so deep,
 And our children still weep,
 And our lives are still cheap,
They  came from Germany and France, from England and from Spain,
 From Belgium and from Portugal,
 You all done much the same,
You  took what was not yours,
 Went against your own Bible,
 You broke your own laws, just to outdo the rival
But  did you ever apologise,
 For the hundreds of millions of lives,
 Yous destroyed and terrorised, or have you never realised
Did  you never feel shame for what was done in your countrys name,
 And find out whos to blame, and why it was so in-humane.
And  still they teach you in your school,
 About those glorious days of rule,
 And how its your destiny to be, superior to me,
But  if you've any kind of mind,
 You'll see that all human kind
 Are the children of this earth,
And  your hate for them will chew you up and spit you out!
You'll  never kill our will to  be free, to be  free,
 You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free,
 You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free,
InSide  our minds, we all hold the  key!
 Till outro

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Readable chord sheet for Colony by Damien Dempsey

[E]
[A] [F#m] [E]
[A] [F#m] [E]
[E]I Sing the song of the colony,
How many years and your still not free,
[F#m]And your mother cries,Oh and you ask God why.
[E]Greed is the knife, and the scars run deep,
How many races with much reason to weep,
[F#m]And your children cry, Oh and you ask God why.
[E]Annie, she came from Dunlaven town,
The TB came, and killed her family all around,
[F#m]Population boomed, livin' in two rooms.
[E]Katie she came from down Townsend street,
Ten in her bed, and no shoes on their feet,
[F#m]1916 came, they played the patriots game.
[E]Freddy, he came form the Iveagh flats,
Tenement slums and infested with rats,
[F#m]Sleepin on damp straw, tryin not to break the law.
[E]Thomas he came from Kilmainah Mayo,
Semi starvation was the only life you know,
[F#m]In a two room shack, then jailed in Letterfrack.
[A] [F#m] [E]
[A] [F#m] [E]
[E]I sing the song of the colony,
How many years and your still not free,
[F#m]And your mother cries, oh and you ask God why.
[E]Greed is the knife, and the scars run deep,
How many races with much reason to weep,
[F#m]And your children cry, oh and you ask God why.
[E]I look to the east, I look to the west,
To the north and the south,
And im not too impresed.
[F#m]Time after time after crime after crime,
They rape, rob, pilage, enslaved, and murdered,
[E]Jesus Christ was their God,
And they done it in his name,
So he could take the blame if its not all a game,
[F#m]With Bible in one hand,and a sword in the other,
They came to purify my land, E
And my Gaelic Irish mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers
With our own anchient customs, laws, music, art,
[F#m]Way of life and culture
Tribal in structure, we had a civilisation,
When they were still neanderthal nations
[E]We suffer with the Native American,
The Indian in Asia,
Aboriginal Australia,
[F#m]The African people with their history so deep,
And our children still weep,
And our lives are still cheap,
[E]They came from Germany and France, from England and from Spain,
From Belgium and from Portugal,
You all done much the same,
[F#m]You took what was not yours,
Went against your own Bible,
You broke your own laws, just to outdo the rival
[E]But did you ever apologise,
For the hundreds of millions of lives,
Yous destroyed and terrorised, or have you never realised
[F#m]Did you never feel shame for what was done in your countrys name,
And find out whos to blame, and why it was so in-humane.
[E]And still they teach you in your school,
About those glorious days of rule,
And how its your destiny to be, superior to me,
[F#m]But if you've any kind of mind,
You'll see that all human kind
Are the children of this earth,
[E]An[F#m]d your hate for them will chew you up and spit you out!
[A]You'll never kill our will t[F#m]o be free, to [E]be free,
You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free,
You'll never kill our will to be free, to be free,
[A]InSide our minds, we all hold th[F#m]e key!          [E]
[A] [F#m] [E] Till outro

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