Lyrics:
Let your foe draw nigh ‘til the white of his eye
Comes in close range with your piece
But hold fire still ‘til the red veins there
Are as clear as the white, then release
Flint gives spark, powder gives bark
And your ball flies through to its mark
Your foe goes down one eye less, to the ground
And one grenadier deceased
So show to the Empire, to London and Fame
How justice smiles awful when free men take aim
It’s been just over seven weeks
since cannonballs were hurled
At Lexington and Concord
shots heard round the world
Since that time old Boston town
has been a garrison
for British troops and Tory groups
Some say a war’s begun
The port is closed, King George opposed
They say a war’s begun
Now word has reached the Yankees that
the British plan to move
To occupy old Bunker Hill
their defenses to improve
The Yankees have made up their minds
to best them at their game
To beat the Redcoats up the hill
and put the Crown to shame
To fortify old Bunker Hill
from there to take their aim
General Howe will live to rue
the vow that he has made
to take the hill by front assault
and what a price he’s paid
It’s twice he’s tried to storm the hill
with all his infantry
And twice he’s met the rebel fire
that drives his troops to flee
Reeling down the hill dispatched
with heavy casualty
Colonel Prescott stands before his
his men to urge them on
Two hours they’ve been fighting now
their powder nearly gone
With only stones and rusty nails
to load their rifles round
They face once more the grenadiers
in service to the crown
This time with bayonets they come
to cut the rebels down
T’was the afternoon the seventeenth
the Yankees did surprise
the British troops at Bunker Hill
an army twice their size
Withholding fire till they could see
the whiteness of their eyes
The Yankees made the Redcoats pay
so dearly for their prize
And left the British generals fearful
and demoralized
And when t’was said and done my friends
what good did it provide?
The hill ran red and men were dead
on each and every side
Was battle raged on Bunker Hill
that nothing did decide
For the Crown was still in Boston and
the Rebels still outside
The Redcoats still in Boston and
The Yankees still outside