"Don't Hand Me Over" lyrics

I was born in Derry city
I grew up in that war-torn town
As I watched the system crumble
I saw people's lives turned upside down

How do you fight back
To get your right back
To walk free down the street
When your name and address singles you out
For every peeler on the beat

Don't hand me over
Don't hand me over
For a crime I haven't done
I'm not guilty and you know it
But you said one day you'd send me down

I kept my distance. I kept my silence
I got more angry day by day
I saw the soldiers beat my neighbors
Come and take my closest friends away

I left home, down to Dublin
Not knowing what I'd find
But I've gotten me a job and I place to stay
I thought I'd leave the war behind

Don't hand me over
Don't hand me over
For a crime I haven't done
I'm not guilty and you know it
But you said one day you'd send me down

And they began to watch me
And to follow me 'round town
We know your name and where you come from
Telling me that they would send me down

At dawn one morning I was arrested
And extradited the very same day
I was terrorised and beaten so badly
That I signed my life away

Don't hand me over
Don't hand me over
For a crime I haven't done
I'm not guilty and you know it
But you said one day you'd send me down

The regs in [?] street had a field day
If you were Irish you were scum
Long before my trial is opened
Media had me all but hung

English justice for Irish people
A case of the Birmingham Six sums it up
These people must be guilty
Or forty policemen will seem to be corrupt

For here I'm hated, I'm isolated
I find it hard to live in hope
I'm just leafing through this Bible
And wondering how long I can go

Don't hand me over
Don't hand me over
For a crime I haven't done
I'm not guilty and you know it
But you said one day you'll send me down