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Verse 1
G C G
O me name is Joe McDonnell, from Belfast town I came
C G D
That city I will never see again
G C G
For in the town of Belfast I spent many happy days
C G D
I love that town in oh so many ways
Am C Am C G
For it's there I spent my childhood and found for me a wife
Am C G D
I then set out to make for her a life
G C G
But all my young ambitions met with bitterness and hate
C G D
I soon found myself inside a prison gate
Chorus
Am C Am C G
And you dare call me a terrorist while you look down your gun
Am C G D
When I think of all the deeds that you have done
G
You had plundered many nations divided many lands
C Am C D
You had terrorised their peoples you ruled with an iron hand
G C D
And you brought this reign of terror to my land
Verse 2
Through those many months internment in the Maidstone and the Maize
I thought about my land throughout those days
Why my country was divided why I was now in jail
Imprisoned without crime without trial
And though I love my country I am not a bitter man
I've seen cruelty and injustice at first hand
So then one faithful morning I shook bold freedom's hand
For right or wrong I'd try to free my land
Chorus
Verse 3
Then one October 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
Chorus
Verse 4
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 and the next in line is me
And those who lay behind me may your courage be the same
And I pray to God my life was not in vain
Ah but sad and bitter was the year of 1981
For everything I've lost and nothing's won
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