[Verse]
Oh, me name is Joe McDonnell, from Belfast town I came,
That city I will never see again,
For it's in the town of Belfast, I spent many happy days,
Oh, I love that town in, oh, so many ways.

And 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 gun,
When I think of all the deeds that you have done,
You have plundered many nations, divided many lands,
You have terrorized their peoples, you ruled with an iron hand,
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

[Verse]
In those 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 although I love my country, I am not a bitter man,
I've seen cruelty and injustice at first hand,
So, then one fateful morning, I shook bold freedom's hand,
For right or wrong, I'd try to free my land.

[Chorus]
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 peoples, you ruled with an iron hand,
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

[Verse]
One cold October's morning trapped in a lion's den,
I found myself imprisoned 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 gives a damn,
And now I am a saddened man, I've watched my comrades die,
If only people cared or wondered why.

[Chorus]
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 peoples, you ruled with an iron hand,
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

[Verse]
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 next in line it's me.

And those who lie behind me, may your courage be the same,
And I pray to God my life it's not in vain,
Oh, sad and bitter was the year of 1981,
When everything was lost and nothing won.