James Larkin - The Dubliners

In Dublin City in nineteen thirteen

The boss was rich and the poor were slaves

The women working and children starving

Then on came Larkin like a mighty wave

The workers cringed when the boss man thundered

Seventy hours was his weekly chore

He asked for little and less was granted

Lest given little then he’d ask for more

In the month of August the boss man told us

No union man for him could work

We stood by Larkin and told the boss man

We’d fight or die, but we wouldn’t shirk

Eight months we fought and eight months we starved

We stood by Larkin through thick and thin

But foodless homes and the crying of children

It broke our hearts, we just couldn’t win

Then Larkin left us, we seemed defeated

The night was black for the working man

But on came Connolly with new hope and counsel

His motto was that we’d rise again

In nineteen sixteen in Dublin City

The English soldiers they burnt our town

The shelled our buildings and shot our leaders

The Harp was buried 'neath the bloody crown

They shot McDermott and Pearse and Plunkett

They shot McDonagh and Clarke the brave

From bleak Kilmainham they took Ceannt’s body

To Arbour Hill and a quicklime grave

But last of all of the seven heroes

I sing the praise of James Connolly

The voice of justice, the voice of freedom

He gave his life, that man might be free