LyricMeaning

The Rebel
Dubliners

I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow;

Who have no treasure but hope,

No riches laid up but a memory of an ancient glory

My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,

I am of the blood of serfs;

The children with whom I have played, the men and women with whom I have eaten

Have had masters over them, have been under the lash of masters,

and though gentle, have served churls.

The hands that have touched mine,

the dear hands whose touch Is familiar to me

Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles,

have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers.

I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly, I am bone of their bone I that have never submitted;

I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people's masters,

I that have vision and prophecy, and the gift of fiery speech,

I that have spoken with God on the top of his holy hill.

And because I am of the people, I understand the people,

I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire;

My heart is heavy with the grief of mothers,

My eyes have been wet with the tears of children,

I have yearned with old wistful men,

And laughed and cursed with young men;

Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it

Reddened for that they have served, they who should be free

Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full,

Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and their jailors.

With their Writs of Summons and their handcuffs,

Men mean and cruel.

I could have borne stripes on my body

Rather than this shame of my people.

And now I speak, being full of vision:

I speak to my people, and I speak in my people's name to

The masters of my people:

I say to my people that they are holy,

That they are august despite their chains.

That they are greater than those that hold them

And stronger and purer,

That they have but need of courage, and to call on the name of their God,

God the unforgetting, the dear God who loves the people

For whom he died naked, suffering shame.

And I say to my people's masters: Beware

Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people

Who shall take what ye would not give.

Did ye think to conquer the people, or that law is stronger than life,

And than men's desire to be free?

We will try it out with you ye that have harried and held,

Ye that have bullied and bribed.

Tyrants... hypocrites... liars!


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Lyrics by Dubliners

  A Bunch Of Red Roses   Air Fa La La La   All For Me Grog   Anna Liffey   Avondale   Bantry Girl's Lament   Black Velvet Band   Boots Of Spanish Leather   Carrickfergus   Cavan Girl   Cod Liver Oil   Dainty Davey   Dancing At Whitsun   Deportees   Dicey Riley   Dirty Old Town   Donegal Danny   Down By The Glenside   Dublin In The Rare Old Times   Easy And Slow   Farewell To Carlingford   Fields Of Athenry   Finnigan's Wake   Four Green Fields   Fuck You I'm Drunk   Gypsy Rover   Hey Johnny Mcgorry   Hot Asphalt   Humpty Dumpty   I Knew Danny Farrell   I Loved The Ground She Walked Upon   I'll Tell Me Ma   I'll Tell Me Ma   I'm A Free Born Man   Jar Of Porter   Joe Hill   Join The British Army   Killieburne Brae   Leaving Nancy   Lord Of The Dance   Maid Of The Sweet Brown Knowe   Maloney Wants A Drink   Master Mcgrath   Mcalpine's Fusiliers   Mccafferty   Molly Bawn   Molly Malone   Monto   Paddy's Sick Note   Peggy Gordon   Preab San Ol   Prefad San Ol   Pub With No Beer   Raglan Road   Rare Old Mountain Dew   Rocky Road To Dublin   Sam Hall   Seven Drunken Nights   Song For Ireland   South Australia   Spancil Hill   Spanish Lady   The Auld Triangle   The Band Played Waltzing Matilda   The Black Velvet Band   The Comical Genius   The Crack Was Ninety In The Isle Of Man   The Dundee Weaver   The Ferryman   The Foggy Dew   The Gartan Mother's Lullaby   The Gentleman Soldier   The Glendalough Saint   The Holy Ground   The Inniskillen Dragoons   The Irish Navy   The Kerry Recruit   The Lark In The Morning   The Leaving Of Liverpool   The Louse House At Kilkenny   The Lowlands Of Holland   The Molly Maguires   The Monto   The Night Visiting Song   The Old Orange Flute   The Partin' Glass   The Rising Of The Moon   The Rocky Road To Dublin   The Rose   The Sick Note   The Town I Loved So Well   The Unquiet Grave   The Wests Awake   The Wild Rover   Three Score And Ten   Tibby Dunbar   Whack Fol De Diddle   Whiskey In The Jar   Whisky In The Jar   Wild Rover   Will You Come To The Bower   Wiskey In The Jar   Working Man

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