The Songs of River Road

The Bell Of Batoche

River Road, Track 2 - 4:49
T Longbottom / G Pruden / D Koulack

The Battle of Batoche at Batoche Saskatchewan in 1885 rang the death knell for the Métis dream of "A New Nation".

Chorus
A river of time could never wash
The blood and the tears from the from the bell of Batoche

We rode in the dark to Delerondes mill 
We looked to the dead and dying
We lit no fires there were no sounds
But young McDonald crying

We lay up all day in the mud 
Come dusk he cried no more
The earth turned black with his dying blood
We buried him by the shore

We camped by a bluff through the second long day
We prayed that the moon wouldn't shine
You could just see your fingers in front of your face 
When someone shouted "it's time"

The night exploded in noise and flames 
Napolean cried" they've found us"
We saw there was no where to run
The English were all around us

They took us all to pile of bones
They gave me seven years
They locked me in an iron cage
Alone I cried my tears

But always in my hungry dreams
A meadowlark is singing
These prison walls are fallen away
And a bell is sweetly ringing