Joe Mcdonnell

Oh me name is Joe McDonnell

From Belfast town I came

That city I will never see again

For in the town of Belfast

I spent many happy days

I love that town in oh so many ways

For it's there I spent my childhood

And found for me a wife

I then set out to make for her a life

But all my young ambitions

Met with bitterness and hate

I soon found myself inside a prison gate

And you dare to call me a terrorist

While you look down your gun

When I think of all the deeds that you had done

You had plundered many nations

Divided many lands

You had terrorised their peoples

You ruled with an iron hand

And you brought this reign of terror to my land

Through those many months interment

In the Maidstone and the Maze

I thought about my land throughout those days

Why my country was divided

Why I was now in jail

Imprisoned without crime or without trial

And though I love my country

I'm not a bitter man

I've seen cruelty and injustice at first hand

So then one fateful morning

I shook bold freedom's hand

For right or wrong I'd try to free my land

And you dare to call me a terrorist

While you look down your gun

When I think of all the deeds that you had done

You had plundered many nations

Divided many lands

You had terrorised their peoples

You ruled with an iron hand

And you brought this reign of terror to my land

Then one cold October's morning

Trapped in a lions' den

I found myself in prison once again

I was committed to the H Blocks

For fourteen years or more

On the blanket, the conditions they were poor

Then a hunger strike we did commence

For the dignity of man

But it seemed to me that no one gave a damn

But now I am a saddened man

I've watched my comrades die

If only people cared or wondered why

And you dare to call me a terrorist

While you look down your gun

When I think of all the deeds that you had done

You had plundered many nations

Divided many lands

You had terrorised their peoples

You ruled with an iron hand

And you brought this reign of terror to my land

May God shine on you, Bobby Sands

For the courage you have shown

May your glory and your fame be widely known

And Francis Hughes and Ray McCreesh

Who died unselfishly

And Patsy O'Hara, the next in line is me

And those who lie behind me

May your courage be the same

And I pray to God my life is not in vain

Ah, but sad and bitter was the year

Of nineteen eighty-one

For everything I've lost, and nothing's won