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THE PATRIOT GAME
    (Dominic Behan)

    Come all ye young rebels, and list while I sing,
    For the love of one's country is a terrible thing.
    It banishes fear with the speed of a flame,
    And it makes us all part of the patriot game.

    My name is O'Hanlon, and I've just turned sixteen.
    My home is in Monaghan, and where I was weaned
    I learned all my life cruel England's to blame,
    So now I am part of the patriot game.

    This Ireland of ours has too long been half free.
    Six counties lie under John Bull's tyranny.
    But still De Valera is greatly to blame
    For shirking his part in the Patriot game.

    They told me how Connolly was shot in his chair,
    His wounds from the fighting all bloody and bare.
    His fine body twisted, all battered and lame
    They soon made me part of the patriot game.

    It's nearly two years since I wandered away
    With the local battalion of the bold IRA,
    For I read of our heroes, and wanted the same
    To play out my part in the patriot game.

    And now as I lie here, my body all holes
    I think of those traitors who bargained in souls
    And I wish that my rifle had given the same
    To those Quislings who sold out the patriot game.

    Tune: One Morning In May, or God on Our Side
    Copyright Clifford Music Co., Ltd.
    @Irish @rebel
    recorded by Owen McBride and by Judy Collins