G            D         Am     C     G      C        G
I’m ninety miles from Dublin Town I’m in a H-Block cell
 G          Am    C    G                            C
To help you understand my plight this story now I’ll tell
G      Am   C     G                    Am  C
I’m on the Blanket Protest my efforts must not fail
     G      D         Am       C  G        C       G
I’m joined by men and women in the Blocks and Armagh Gaol


[Verse 2]
G        D         Am     C     G      C        G
It all began the morning I was dragged to Castlerea
G          Am    C    G                            C
And though it was three years ago it seems like yesterday
G           Am   C     G                    Am         C
Three days kicked and beaten and then I was forced to sign
     G      D         Am    C     G          C       G
Confessions that convicted me of deeds that were not mine


[Verse 3]
G         D       Am     C    G          C    G
Sentenced in a Diplock court my protest it began
G          Am            C    G                     C
I could not wear that prison gear I was a Blanket Man
G          Am   C     G                    Am  C
I’ll not accept your status I’ll not be criminalised
     G      D     Am       C    G        C       G
That’s the issue in the Blocks for which we give our lives


[Verse 4]
G       D       Am     C     G      C        G
Over there in London how they’d laugh and sneer
G          Am         C    G                            C
If they could only make us wear their loathsome prison gear
G            Am       C     G                    Am  C
Prisoners of War is what we are and that we will remain
     G      D         Am       C  G        C       G
The Blanket Protest must not end till our status we regain


[Verse 5]
G            D      Am              C     G      C        G
I’ve been beaten round the romper room because I won’t say sir
G          Am        C    G                            C
Frogmarched down the landing and pulled back by the hair
G              Am   C             Am  C
I’ve suffered degradation humility and pain
     G      D         Am       C  G        C       G
My spirit does not falter british torture is in vain


[Verse 6]
G            D         Am     C       G      C        G
I’ve been held in scalding water my skin with deck scrubs torn
G                  Am    C     G                            C
Scratched and cut from head to foot and thrown out on the floor
G        Am      C     G                    Am  C
Suffered mirror searches probed by drunken bears
     G      D         Am       C  G        C       G
I’ve listened to my comrades’ scream and sob their lonely prayers


[Verse 7]
G            D         Am     C         G      C        G
Now with the news that’s coming in the Protest must not fail
G            Am       C       G                       C
We’ve been joined by thirty women across in Armagh Gaol
G      Am     C     G                    Am  C
Pay attention Irish men and Irish women too
     G      D         Am   C     G        C       G
Show the Free State government their silence will not do


[Verse 8]
G            D         Am     C     G      C        G
Though its ninety miles from Dublin it seems so far away
G          Am    C    G                       C
It’s like we’re getting more support from the USA
G            Am      C     G                 Am  C
Now you’ve heard the story I am in this living hell
     G      D         Am       C  G        C       G
Remember ninety miles away I’m in my H-Block cell