Chapter II

There are plenty of fools in Ireland still,
Just promise them something soon,
A Union Jack, or a Home Rule Bill,
Or a slice of the next new moon;
And they'll rush to the colors with wild hurroos,
What price the War Lord then?
They'll settle his hash, while we gobble his cash,
Eight millions of English men;
Of beef-eating, bull-dog men;
Of undersized, able men;
We're shy of the guns, but we'll beggar the Huns,
Eight millions of English men.

This is a song that includes the Irish leaders in Parliament in its satire on Irish "loyalty" to England:

"Now," says Lady Aberdeen,
"I've a message from the Queen
To the loyal hearts in Ireland here at home;
She wants you all to gather socks,
Plain as I, or decked with clocks,
Just to prove the Irish loyal to the throne."

CHORUS

To Hell with the King, and God save Ireland,
Get a sack and start the work to-day,
Gather all the socks you meet, for the English Tommies' feet,
When they're running from the Germans far away!

"When you've gathered all the socks,
Send them on to Dr. Cox,
Or to Redmond, or to Dillon, or myself,
For the party on the floor
Have agreed to look them o'er
While the Home Rule Bill is resting on the shelf."

CHORUS

(Same as first stanza. The first line is a parody on the loyalist
toast: "Here's a health to the King, and God save Ireland!")

The Irish Citizen Army song was written by Jo Connolly, a young workingman, whose brother, Sean Connolly, was killed while leading the attack on Dublin Castle Easter Monday. Jo was the boy who cut loopholes in the roof of the College of Surgeons. He was deported to Wandsworth Prison, but after a few months was released. The song is sung to the tune which you know as "John Brown's Body":

THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY

I

The Irish Citizen Army is the name of our wee band,
With our marchin' and our drillin', I'm sure you'll call it grand;
And when we start our fightin' it will be for Ireland,
And we'll still keep marching on!

CHORUS

Glory, glory to old Ireland!
Glory, glory to our sireland!
Glory to the memory of those who fought and fell,
And we'll still keep marching on!

II

We've got guns and ammunition, we know how to use them well,
And when we meet the Saxon, we will drive them all to Hell;
We've got to free our country and avenge all those who fell,
So we still keep marching on!

CHORUS

III

King George he is a coward, that no one can deny,
When the Germans come to England, from there he'll have to fly;
And if he comes to Ireland then, by God, he'll have to die,
And we'll still go marching on!

CHORUS