[Verse]
My name is John Riley and lend your ear only a while
When I first left my dear home in Ireland,
It was death, starvation or exile,
When I got to America, it was my duty to go,
Into the Army, to slog across Texas,
And join in the war against Mexico.

But it was there in the pueblos and hillsides,
I saw the mistake I had made,
Part of a conquering army with the moral of a bayonets blade,
And amidst all these poor, dying Catholics,
Screaming children, the burning stench of it all,
Myself and two hundred Irishmen we decided to rise to the call.

[Verse]
From Dublin City to San Diego,
We witnessed freedom denied,
So we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
And fought on the Mexican side,
Yes we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
And fought on the Mexican side.

[Verse]
We fought neath the green flag of Saint Patrick,
Emblazoned with 'Erin Go Bragh',
Bright with the harp and the shamrock and 'Libertad para la República'
Just fifty years after Wolfe Tone and five thousand miles away
The Yanks called us a Legion of Strangers,
But they can talk as they may.

Fought them in Matamoros, while the volunteers were raping the nuns,
In Monterey and Cerro Gordo, we fought on as Ireland's sons,
We were the red-headed fighters for freedom,
Amidst brown-skinned women and men,
Side by side we fought against tyranny,
And I daresay we'd do it again.

[Verse]
From Dublin City to San Diego,
We witnessed freedom denied,
So we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
And fought on the Mexican side,
Yes we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
And fought on the Mexican side.

[Verse]
Fought them in five major battles, Churubusco was the last,
Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston,
We fell after each mortar blast,
Some of us died on that hillside in the service of the Mexican state,
Far from our occupied homeland,
We were heroes and victims of fate.

[Verse]
From Dublin City to San Diego,
We witnessed freedom denied,
So we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
And fought on the Mexican side,
Yes we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
We formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
Yes we formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion,
And fought on the Mexican side.