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 