Colony Chords by Damien Dempsey

[Start]

[Intro]
E Bsus4 E A Gbm7 E
■ ■     ■ ■ ■    ■
A Gbm7 A E
■ ■    ■ ■


[Verse]
           E                 
I sing the song of the colony
               E                        
How many years and you're still not free
         Gbm7   A     Gbm7 Gbm         Gbm7   
And your mother cries ■    and you ask god why
E                                          
■ Greed is the knife and the scars run deep
               E                       
How many races with much reason to weep
A        Gbm      Gbm7
And your children cry 
                A  
And you ask god why
E                                  
■ Annie she came from Dunlavin Town
                E                           
The TB came and killed her family all around
Gbm             
Population booms
Gbm7   Gbm Gbm7     
Eleven in  two rooms
E                                         
■ Katie she came from down Townsend street
                 E                     
Ten in a bed and no shoes on their feet
Gbm              Gbm7
Nineteen sixteen came
                         Gbm 
They played the patriots game
E                                     
■ Freddy he came from the Iveagh flats
               E                     
Tenement slums and infested with rats
Gbm         Gbm7 Gbm  
Sleeping on damp straw
Gbm                        
Trying not to break the law


[Chorus]
A E                                   
■ Thomas he came from Kilmaine in Mayo
                                        A   
Semi starvation was the only life you'd know
              A    
In a two room shack


[Inst]
Gbm Gbm7 A Gbm7 E A E
■   ■    ■ ■    ■ ■ ■


[Verse]
               Gbm         A E
Then jailed in Letterfrack ■ ■


[Chorus]
  A Gbm  Gbm7 Gbm Gbm7 Gbm E                               
I ■ look ■    ■   ■    ■   ■ to the east I look to the west


[Verse]
                                           Gbm      
To the north and the south and I'm not too impressed
Gbm            
Time after time
      Gbm              
After crime after crime
                  Gbm7                          
They raped robbed pillaged enslaved and murdered
E                                                      
Jesus Christ was their god and they done it in his name
   E                                             
So he could take the blame if it's not all a game
Gbm                                            
With bible in one hand and a sword in the other
Gbm7                                           A      
They came to purify my land of my Gaelic Irish mothers
    E                               
And fathers and sisters and brothers
             E                             
With our own ancient customs laws music art
       Gbm      Gbm7   
Way of life and culture
       Gbm7        
Tribal in structure
         Gbm7        
We had a civilisation
               Gbm                      
When they were still neanderthal nations
E                                                    
We suffer with the Native American the Indian in Asia
           E        
Aboriginal Australia
    Gbm                                      
The African people with their history so deep
                 Gbm                                     
And our children still weep and our lives are still cheap
Gbm7          E                               
You came from Germany from France from England
E             
And from Spain
                      E       
From Belgium and from Portugal
    E                     
You all done much the same
Gbm                        
You took what was not yours
Gbm                        
Went against your own bible
    Gbm                
You broke your own laws
Gbm                     
Just to out do the rival
E                         
But did you ever apologize
        E                             
For the hundreds and millions of lives
E                           
You destroyed and terrorised
E                         
Or have you never realized
Gbm                     
Did you never feel shame
    Gbm                                 
For what was done in your country's name
                            Gbm                          
And find out who's to blame and why they were so inhumane
    E                                  
And still they teach you in your school
E                                
About those glorious days of rule
E                              
And how it's your destiny to be
E             
Superior to me
Gbm                           
But if you've any kind of mind
Gbm7                          
You'll see that all human kind
                         Gbm  
Are the children of this earth
                            A               E           
And your hate for them will chew you up and spit you out


[Inst]
Gbm Gbm7 Gb7 B7
■   ■    ■   ■ 


[Chorus]
       A              Gbm7       E              
You'll never kill our will to be free to be free
       A              Gbm        E              
You'll never kill our will to be free to be free
       A              Gbm7       E              
You'll never kill our will to be free to be free
A                   Gbm              
Inside our minds we hold hold the key


[Inst]
E A Gbm E A Gbm7 Gbm A
■ ■ ■   ■ ■ ■    ■   ■


[Solo]
E A Gbm7 E A E A Gbm7
■ ■ ■    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■   
E A Gbm7 E A Gbm E A
■ ■ ■    ■ ■ ■   ■ ■
Gbm E A Gbm7 E A Gbm7 E
■   ■ ■ ■    ■ ■ ■    ■
A Gbm7 E A Gbm7 E
■ ■    ■ ■ ■    ■


[Outro]