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Man Without A Country

from Sweet Anne's Road by Jim Sharkey

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about

This is a song about the San Patricio Brigade that was made up of mostly Irish deserters from the US Army during the Mexican-American War. There were some German and some Irish who were not deserters in the brigade too. The reasons for desertion were many: anti-immigrant sentiment at the time; discrimination in jobs; anti-catholicism. The Irish felt an affinity toward the Mexican people who were also mostly Catholic. In addition, the war was seen as unjust. General Grant, Abraham Lincoln and other prominant leaders at the time viewed the war as a land grab and the possibility that he region would invite an expansion of slavery.

lyrics

MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY
written by Jim Sharkey

My hands are trembling, behind my back
And the mind's recalling the times we had
At home in Sligo, in Toorlestran

Walking with Delia, holdin' her sweet hand
Words were spoken, promises made
I loved her dearly, we were going to wed
But the blight set in, by forty-five
The potatoes rotted, poisoned overnight

Fair play is the name of the game
But the rules keep changing Nothing stays the same
I'm on the bottom with no place to go
A man without a country looking for a home

I buried Delia in 'forty-six
She died of fever and politics
I sailed from Galway and said goodbye
To the land I loved, it was never mine

It's the land of landlords and middlemen
The rack-renting agents that divide the land
There's work here in Boston or way out west
Where the Mississippi Riverboats never rest

Fair play is the name of the game
But the rules keep changing
Nothing stays the same
I'm on the bottom, there's only one place to go
For a man without a country looking for a home oh

There wasn't much in Boston, or in NewYork town
Plenty of servitude and slander going round
I joined the army, to march out west
And crossed the Rio Grande, into Mexico we pressed

How I got here, I'll never know
A sense of justice or injustice, I don't know
Six-hundred Irishmen joined with Mexico
And fought with John Reilly looking for a home

At Cerra Gordo and Buena Vista too
We fought Scott's army with a fire they never knew
But at Churubusco, with cannon and shell
And the "Mississippi Rifle" balls they blew us all to hell

Fair play is the name of the game
I'll not ask forgiveness that'll never change
To die a traitor I'll never do, The right and the wrong of it all
I'll leave that up to you

So spring the trapdoor, I'm not afraid
My heart is aching, you'll take that away
My eyes are covered, but I see clearly now
My life's meant nothing, it never did somehow

credits

from Sweet Anne's Road, released October 11, 2016

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Jim Sharkey Portland, Maine

Songwriter Jim Sharkey is an Irish and Americana folk musician. Jim grew up in County Roscommon, Ireland. He plays around the northeastern US. Jim's original songs blend Irish traditional ballad influences with contemporary issues.

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