James Connolly - Black 47

Marching down O’Connell Street with the Starry Plough on high

There goes the Citizen Army with their fists raised in the sky

Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye

«My name is James Connolly — I didn’t come here to die

But to fight for the rights of the working man

And the small farmer too

Protect the proletariat from the bosses and their screws

So hold on to your rifles, boys, and don’t give up your dream

Of a Republic for the working class, economic liberty"

Then Jem yelled out «Oh Citizens, this system is a curse

An English boss is a monster, an Irish one even worse

They’ll never lock us out again and here’s the reason why

My name is James Connolly, I didn’t come here to die…»

And now we’re in the GPO with the bullets whizzing by

With Pearse and Sean McDermott bidding each other goodbye

Up steps our citizen leader and roars out to the sky

«My name is James Connolly, I didn’t come here to die…

Oh Lillie, I don’t want to die, we’ve got so much to live for

And I know we’re all going out to get slaughtered, but I just can’t take any

more

Just the sight of one more child screaming from hunger in a Dublin slum

Or his mother slaving 14 hours a day for the scum

Who exploit her and take her youth and throw it on a factory floor

Oh Lillie, I just can’t take any more

They’ve locked us out, they’ve banned our unions, they even treat their animals

better than us

No!

It’s far better to die like a man on your feet than to live forever like

some slave on your knees, Lillie

But don’t let them wrap any green flag around me

And for God’s sake, don’t let them bury me in some field full of harps and

shamrocks

And whatever you do, don’t let them make a martyr out of me

No!

Rather raise the Starry Plough on high, sing a song of freedom

Here’s to you, Lillie, the rights of man and international revolution"

We fought them to a standstill while the flames lit up the sky

'Til a bullet pierced our leader and we gave up the fight

They shot him in Kilmainham Gaol but they’ll never stop his cry

My name is James Connolly, I didn’t come here to die…"