From the recording Redcoat
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Britain waged countless wars across the globe, and one figure was always on the front line; the ordinary British soldier; the redcoat.
From the great power struggles of the European monarchies, through the Age of Revolution, to the carving out of the largest empire the world has ever seen, redcoats fought and died on every continent except Antarctica during these two bloody centuries.
This is the story of the redcoat; a story of heroes, villains, ordinary men and an icon of history.
Lyrics
Redcoat
The British soldier - 1700-1885
Featuring the Battle of Blenheim 13/08/1704 (War of the Spanish Succession), the Battle of Culloden 16/04/1746 (Jacobite Rebellion), the Battle of Quebec 13/09/1759 (Seven Years’ War), the Battle of Bunker Hill 17/06/1775 (American War of Independence), the Storming of Badajoz 06/04/1812 (Peninsular War), the Battle of Waterloo 18/06/1815 (The War of the Seventh Coalition), the Retreat from Kabul 6-13/01/1842 (First Anglo-Afghan War), the Battle of Balaklava 25/10/1854 (Crimean War), The Indian Rebellion 1857, the Battle of Rorke’s Drift 22/01/1879 (Anglo-Zulu War).
Verse 1:
Shoulder to shoulder in a desperate square
Shot and smoke fill the Flanders air
Sabres flash, horses thunder past
But they stand their ground and the square holds fast
Fierce grenadier with an iron will
Marches into the carnage at Bunker Hill
Move as one to the rebel guns
Fatal ball sees him fall, now his work is done
Pre-chorus 1:
Theirs was not to reason why
Theirs was but to do and die
Chorus:
Hero of his country
And a vagabond reviled
Conqueror, oppressor
And a nameless ghost of the rank and file
For King and Queen and country
For glory, gold and fame
Through history he marches
Redcoat is his name
Verse 2:
On a distant moor in a game of kings
Where the cannon roar and the broadsword sings
Nightmare sound, bodies all around
At the final battle on British ground
Survivor of horror with a hardened heart
Rebels lashed to the cannon and blown apart
Bloodsoaked land in Imperial hands
Will the scars ever heal? D’you suppose they can?
Pre-chorus 2:
Across the world their tale is told
An Empire built on blood and gold
(Chorus)
(Solo)
Bridge:
Charge a bloody breach for the key to Spain
In the Afghan snows, make your stand in vain
At Blenheim spill your blood at the barricade
Far from hope and far from home
Take your place in Campbell’s thin red line
Open fire with Wolfe for the final time
Join the handful at the Drift, turning back the tide
Carve a legacy in stone
Pre-chorus 3:
In death they share eternal fame
They know that Redcoat is their name
(Chorus x2)