One night I lay on the cold ground not the first time nor the last in a dark little corner in the Liberties where I'd often take me rest I’d a long oul day out begging and not much left to show after drinking my hard earnings ‘round the streets of Pimlico It was on a summer evening but the wind it still blew cold maybe it was the full day's drink in me that made me feel so old either way this life was far too hard and I swore it was time to change I'd head up to the nuns in the morning my saviour to arrange Now trying to find a bit of warmth I huddled myself to sleep and I tried to dream of a warm paradise with blue skies running deep right then I was sure I was dreaming was I in heaven or was I in hell cos molten lava surrounded me but it was whiskey I could smell Right before my very eyes a fire lit up the sky and I could hear the hellish clap of hooves which did me terrify to beat the devil I said a prayer that I'd drink no more a drop save me from this devilish place and my devilish ways I'll stop Well I don't know if my prayer it worked or was it just God's funny way but the clap of hooves turned out to be pigs running from their sty what made them bolt it did turn out and the fire lighting up the sky was a blaze down in the malt house that sent whiskey flowing free Now the whiskey burned like lava as it flowed down Ardee Street the pigs used their brains and got away but they were all that did retreat for instead of fleeing to safety men and women gathered round with what they could use even their own shoes to scoop the whiskey off the ground I’m telling you now it was quite the sight A river of whiskey it was a first and if it wasn’t for the blessed prayer I’d said I would’ve dived straight in head first nevermind the fact that the fireman Mr Ingram a rare breed you know he lay down a ton of horse manure to halt the whiskey’s flow Now you mightn’t believe me temptation and sure the perils of fire are well known but try think of the situation in the Liberties on the 18th of June for despite the flames and the danger thirteen people ended up dead not from burns or smoke inhalation it was drinking hot whiskey instead Well I tell you this for nothing a penance that night I served and there's ne'er a priest nor a nun say it wasn't well deserved for it got me back to religion and I pray now every night and I won't take a drink no more til I see the whiskey flow down Ardee St

As I lie here My body's black and blue And my heart's as cold as the stones on the wall That keep us in here like prisoners for doing nothing at all Never to go home for the crimes they tell us that we have done Charged as a baby and taken away to the Brothers and the Nuns Chorus: And they teach us about heaven but they beat us into hell They smile through our tears Little children left in fear This is no home What is a child As far as I know it's a little boy or girl who is forced to go To the laundry house or make the rosary beads for the Holy Joes And you're not allowed laugh or jump around and sing kids' songs So you have to get back to work Or you'll be sorry that you were born As I'm older now I lay here and I'm too sore to dream that this life can change Is it wrong of me to want to go and to get my revenge For the life I was forced to live in place of what I was refused By the bastards who made me believe that my beatings were well deserved When children cry their mothers and their fathers should be able to come running and ask them why To rub their knees and dry their eyes and kiss their child But the children of the institutes could never know such care Their mother's embrace is replaced by the cold hard bitin stare In their own right minds Nobody would say a child deserved to be abused But nobody knew or would listen to the cries from the institutes Now the blood drips slowly down through our society And the stains of the past must never be left to wash away Lest we forget the suffering which is still going on today

Cobwebs glisten call another morning Footsteps fall to wake the dreaming dew Birds and builders singing songs together Flying now the day has just begun Hear the hedgerow foragers in feeding Chirping cries a young pup on the prowl Blue skies tempt the footpath to grow longer Breath of frosty air clears the head Distant sounds of trucks and trailers shaking Car horns sound up on the valley high I could go on walking here forever Whistling with the builders, birds and breeze Sometimes I think about a time before me of druids, gaels and ceremonies here the embers of a firepit then reminds me the empty cans the ritual of youth Nighttime comes and dreams I hope are waiting Helping these good days to carry on Heavy clouds come to cast dark evening shadows When they pass I’ll rest among the stars

There's a man who's standing the wind in his hair And through his fingers as he wonders All his life alone standing there No monuments of glory will stand to his fame The crowds go by like the years in his mind A sad lament on the whistling wind Friends of old pass stranger today They don't want an encore they had yesterday The tables are empty another day gone He'll soon join them in fading memory One last dance, one final song The parting glass is all he'll receive Sure it was good but it could've been great No desertion the crowd he'd hold But the rusty strings now sing their own faith In the same old direction down the same old road