Oh 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
And I loved 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
Oh but all my young ambition
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 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
Through the many months internment
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 am not a bitter man
I've seen cruelty and injustice at first hand
And so one faithful morning
I shook bold freedom's hand
For right or wrong I tried to free my land
Then one cold October's morning
I was trapped in the lion's den
And 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
Oh but now I am a saddened man
I've watched my comrades die
If only people cared or wondered why
Oh 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 lie behind me
May your courage be the same
And I pray to god my life was not in vain
And though sad and bitter was the year of 1981
All was not lost, but it's still there to be won
There's a uniform still hanging in what's known as father's room
A uniform so simple in its style
It has no fancy braid of gold, no hat with feathered plume
Yet me mother has preserved it all the while
One day she made me try it on, a wish of mine for years
In memory of your father Sean she said
And when I put the sam brown on
She was smiling through hear tears
As she placed the broad black brimmer on me head
It's just a broad black brimmer
With ribbons frayed and torn from the
Careless whisk of many a mountain breeze
An old trench coat that's so battle-stained and worn
And breeches almost threadbare at the knees
A sam brown belt with a buckle big and strong
And a holster that's been empty many's a day
But when men claim Ireland's freedom
The one should choose to lead them
Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA
It was the uniform worn by me father year's ago
When he reached me mother's homestead on the run
It was the uniform he wore in that little church below
Whne oul Father Mac, he blessed the pair as one
And after truce and treaty and the parting of the ways
He wore it when he marched out with the rest
And when they bore his body down on that rugged heather braes
They placed the broad black brimmer on his breast
It's just a broad black brimmer
With ribbons frayed and torn from the
Careless whisk of many a mountain breeze
An old trench coat that's so battle-stained and worn
And breeches almost threadbare at the knees
A sam brown belt with a buckle big and strong
And a holster that's been empty many's a day
But when men claim Ireland's freedom
The one should choose to lead them
Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA
Oh when men claim Ireland's freedom
The one should choose to lead them
Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA