[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,
And I love that town in, oh, so many ways.

For it's there I spent my childhood and I found for me a wife,
And I then set out to make for her a life,
Ah, but all my young ambitions met with bitterness and hate,
I soon found myself inside that 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 my people, you ruled with an iron hand,
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

[Verse]
Through those many months internment in the Maidstone and the Maze,
Well, I thought about my land throughout those days,
And why my country was divided and 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 fateful morning, when I shook bold freedom's hands,
And for right or wrong, I tried 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 my people, you ruled with an iron hand,
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

[Verse]
Then one cold October morning I was trapped in a 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,
And, sure, now I am a saddened man and 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 my people, you ruled with an iron hand,
And you brought this reign of terror to my land.

[Verse]
Well, may God shine on you, Bobby Sands, for the courage that you have shown,
May your glory and your fate be widely known,
And brave Francis Hughes and Ray McCreesh, who died unselfishly,
And then Patsy O'Hara, and next in line is me.

And for 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 that year of 1981,
For all was no lost but is still going to be won.