55 Days at Peking

55 Days at Peking

 

The year was 1900, 'tis worth remembering

The men who lived through 55 days at Peking

T'was called the Boxer Insurrection, a bloody Oriental war

Against all nations of the diplomatic core

The flags of France and Britain

How they fluttered in the breeze

The Italian and the Russian

and the flag of the Japanese

Then came the sound of bugles

And the rolling drums doom

And the streets of Peking were as empty as a tomb

The Empress of all China gave the signal to begin

And let the foreign devils be driven from Peking

They stormed the French Legation

They attacked with shot and shell

And they came in blood red blouses

Screaming shashow as they fell

The drums have long been muffled

The bugles cease to ring

But through the ages, you can hear them echoing