Lyrics

The Ballad of Sean Downes
Words and Music by Ray Collins

In Belfast Town one Sunday in the year of '84
We marched up the Falls Road as we'd done oft'times before
The RUC were out in force with their British Army chums
Hell-bent on violence 'neath that bright summer sun

They started to harass us, to provoke, and to goad
Surrounded us on all sides on the Andytown Road
Firing plastic bullets to try to keep us down
They're the RUC bully-boys in Belfast Town

A young man came running, his name was Sean Downes
Trying to defend his neighbours all scattered on the ground
A plastic bullet gun blast, then smoke filled the air
Sean Downe's young wife and family were thrown in despair

Chorus:
An RUC bully-boy murdered Sean Downes
Shot him dead in cold blood with a plastic baton round
Their Battle-Cry has always been "make the Croppies lie down"
They're the RUC Bully-boys in Belfast Town

Brave Sean Downes that August day was cruelly laid low
By a plastic bullet fired from the gun of a cowardly foe
Protest and dissension is brutally put down
By the RUC Bully-Boys in Belfast Town

Sean Downes young life that day was crushed at point-blank range
By a bigoted police force that will never really change
A phony enquiry and then a white-washed slate
Exoneration for an agent of a corrupt Orange State