I was raised in Massachusetts
On the farm where I was born
From the time I was a young lad

To the fields I was sworn
Before our corn could go to market
It was stolen from the mill

And sent to Mother England
From here in the Berkshire hills


So when I heard there'd be a rising
I put on a uniform
Slept barefoot in the mud

Beneath the thunder storms
In war there is no glory
Just friends and comrades killed

Shattered lives and broken homes
Here in the Berkshire hills


Then began the nightmare
All over once again
The revolution's debtor's prisons

Filled with good upstanding men
We said to hell with King John Adams
Of this farce we'd had our fill

And we set our sights on liberty
Here in the Berkshire hills


Their courts they couldn't function
Their judges on the run
Each new day we had our farms

Was a victory we'd won
For years we ruled our land
Stood our ground until

We made our last stand by Great Barrington
Here in the Berkshire hills


My name is Daniel Shay
And I'm speaking to you now
If I fought a revolution

Maybe you can tell me how
I was born a poor man
And I'm a poor man still

Bury me beneath the hemlock
Here in the Berkshire hills