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 dame
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.
In my memory I will always see
The town that I have loved so well
Where our school played ball by the gasyard wall
And we laughed through the smoke and smell.
Going home in the rain running up the dark lane
Past the jail and down beside the fountain
Those were happy days in so many many ways
In the town I loved so well.
In the early morn the shirt factory horn
Called women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole played a mothers role
Fed the children and then walked the dog
And when times got rough, there was just about enough
But they saw it through without complaining
For deep inside was a burning pride
for the town I loved so well.
There was music there in the Derry air
Like a language that we could all understand
I remember the day when I earned my first pay
as I played in a small pickup band
There I spent my youth and to tell you the truth
I was sad to leave it all behind me
For I'd learned about life and I'd found a wife
In the town I loved so well.
But when I returned how my eyes were burned
To see how a town could be brought to it's knees
By the armoured cars and the bombed out bars
And the gas that hangs on to every breeze
Now the army's installed by that old gasyard wall
And the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher
With their tanks and guns
Oh my God, what have they done
To the town I loved so well.
Now the music's gone but they carry on
For their spirit's been bruised, never broken
Oh, they'll not forget still their hearts are set
On tomorrow and peace once again
Now what's done is done and what's won is won
And what's lost is lost and gone forever
I can only pray for a bright brand new day
In the town I loved so well.