Joe McCann

Eamon O’Doherty

Come all of you fine people wherever you may be
I’ll sing of a brave Belfast man
Who scorned Britain’s might though they’d shoot him on sight
And they shot down Joe McCann

He fought for the people in the markets where he lived
In defence of the rights of man
But the undercover crew told the soldiers what to do
They shot Joe McCann

In a Belfast bakery in the August of the year
When internment was imposed throughout the land
Six volunteers from Belfast held 60 soldiers at bay
And their leader was Joe McCann

He had no gun so he started to run
To escape them as many’s the time before
One bullet brought him down as he lay on the ground
They shot him ten times more

He fought and he died for the people of this land
The protestant and catholic working man
He caused the bosses fear and for this they paid him dear
When they murdered Joe McCann