Joe Mcdonnell

      G                           C               G
Oh 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 people, you ruled with an iron hand,
        G                     C              D
And you brought this reign of terror, to my land.

               G                             C                G
Through those many months internment in the maidstone and the maze,
    C              G                    D
I thought about my land throught those days.
        G                       C             G
Why my country was divided, why I was now in jail,
   C               G                 D
Imprisoned without crime or without trial.
     Am       C       Am           C            G
And though I love my country, I am not a bitter man,
          Am             C      G        D
I've seen cruelty and injustice at first hand
    G                           C                    G
So then one faithful morning I shook bold freedom's hand
    C                   G                D
For right or wrong I'd tried to free my land.


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 people, you ruled with an iron hand,
        G                     C              D
And you brought this reign of terror, to my land.

         G                      C                  G
Then one cold October morning, trapped in a lion's den,
   C              G             D
I found myself in prison once again.
         G                           C             G
I was committed to the H-Blocks, for 14 years or more,
       C                G                 D
And the blanket, and condition, they were poor.
       Am      C        Am                    C          G
Then a hunger strike we did commence, for the dignity of man,
       Am                C      G      D
But it seemed to me that no one gave a dam.
    G                          C                    G
But now I am a saddened man, I watched my comrades die,
   C           G                 D
If only people cared or wondered why.


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 people, you ruled with an iron hand,
        G                     C              D
And you brought this reign of terror, to my land.

    G                                     C               G
May God shine on you Bobby Sands for the courage you have shown,
          C              G              D
May your glory and your fame be widely known.
     G                                   C              G
And Francis Hughes and Ray McCreesh, who died unselfishly,
    C                     G              D
And Patsy O’Hara and the next in line is me.
     G                                 C             G
And those who lie behind me, may your courage be the same,
      Am              C      G        D
And I pray to God my life is not in vain.
       G                              C  G
Ah but sad and bitter was the year of 1981,
     C               G                 D
For everything I've lost and nothing's won.