Henry's Songbook

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

In a Belfast bakery in the August of that year
When internment was imposed throughout the land
Six volunteers from Belfast held six hundred troops at bay
Their leader was Joe McCann

He fought for the people in the markets where he worked
In defence of the rights of man
But the hired branch crew told the soldiers what to do
And they shot down Joe McCann

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

His cause was the freedom of the people of this land
The Protestant and the Catholic working man
He caused the bosses to fear, for this they paid him dear
When they murdered brave Joe McCann

(as sung by Christy Moore)

[1975:] [Northern Ireland Secretary William Whitelaw] said he was insisting on the soldiers reducing their patrolling, though [the G.O.C., General Sir Harry] Tuzo wanted to increase it as more soldiers had been killed and wounded in recent days than ever before. This, Whitelaw pointed out, was due to the killing of McCann, who had indeed been killed off by the troops when lying wounded on the ground. (Cecil King, Diary 1970-1974, April 29th, 1972)

[1978:] Joe McCann was shot dead by British Paratroops in April 1972. He was alone and unarmed. He had worked tirelessly to politicize Protestants and Catholics and to unite them in their recognition of the common oppressors, imperialism and class. His killing was seen by many as a calculated move to remove the leadership of the Official Republican Movement, viewing their politics as potentially more dangerous to the establishment than the more violent Provisional IRA. (Eamon O'Doherty, Derry)

[1984:] This was a constant number in my repertoire until I sang it one night in Ballymurphy. [???] (Christy Moore Songbook 68)