Human Freedom (James Connolly)

“Human Freedom” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Human Freedom” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).

Lyrics: James Connolly.
Tune: “Clare’s Dragoons.”


Come, hearken all, the day draws nigh,
When mustering hosts the cause shall try,
Of Labor’s right to live and die
Enjoying human freedom;
Then Labor’s force shall take the field,
The liberating sword to wield,
For Labor’s own right arm must shield
The cause of human freedom.

Shout hurrah, for freedom’s host,
For freedom’s banner nobly borne,
Shout hurrah, though tempest tossed,
Freedom’s barque shall ride the storm.

The rights our heroes’ lives have bought,
The truths our martyrs, dying, taught,
The hearts of men with passion hot,
Prepare for human freedom;
Its roots are in no barren soil,
But watered by the tears of toil,
Are spreading fast, no storms can spoil
The plant of human freedom.

Shout hurrah, for freedom’s host,
For freedom’s banner nobly borne,
Shout hurrah, though tempest tossed,
Freedom’s barque shall ride the storm.

Our Native Land, alas, the name,
Is but a sound to tell our shame,
What land have they whose spirits
Tame brook loss of human freedom;
When lake and river, hill and dale,
Hear children’s cry and women’s wail
Of suff’ring rise on ev’ry gale,
For lack of human freedom.

Shout hurrah, for freedom’s host,
For freedom’s banner nobly borne,
Shout hurrah, though tempest tossed,
Freedom’s barque shall ride the storm.

Our banner waves o’er many bands
Through mount and ocean-severed lands,
With active brain and skillful hands
Working for human freedom;
For ancient feuds no more divide,
And ancient hates we thrust aside,
Our class, we know, through battle’s tide
Must bear the flag of freedom.

Shout hurrah, for freedom’s host,
For freedom’s banner nobly borne,
Shout hurrah, though tempest tossed,
Freedom’s barque shall ride the storm.

For this, since ere the world began,
Their troubled course the ages ran,
And earth, in long travail for man,
Bare seed of human freedom;
For us and ours that heritage
Was handed down from age to age,
That we might write on Histr’y’s page:
The Birth of Human Freedom.

Shout hurrah, for freedom’s host,
For freedom’s banner nobly borne,
Shout hurrah, though tempest tossed,
Freedom’s barque shall ride the storm.


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