JOE MCDONNELL

O' my 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.

(Chorus)

 And you dare to call me a terrorist

While you look down your guns

When I think of all the deeds that you have done,

You have plundered many nations

Divided many lands

You have terrorized their people

You ruled with an iron hand.

And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

Though those many months internment in the Maidstone and the Maze

I thought about my land thought those days

Why my country was divided

Why I was now in jail

Imprisoned without cause or without trial.

And although I love my country

I am not a bitter man

I have seen cruelty and injustice at first hand.

Then one fateful morning I shook bold freedom's hand

For right or wrong I tried to free my land.

(Chorus)

One cold October morning

I was 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 seems 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

(Chorus)

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 you died unselfishly

And Patsy O'Hara and next in line is me

And all who lie behind me may your courage be the same

And I pray to God my life is not in vain.

Oh but sad and bitter was the year of 1981

For everything I lost and nothing won.