Thursday, November 30

Shane MacGowan was Twice the Man Kissinger Was...

 Their legacies are telling.  One man was just and right, the other... not so much.


Lyrics
Oh, farewell you streets of sorrowAnd farewell you streets of painI'll not return to feel more sorrowNor to see more young men slained
Through the last six years I've lived through terrorAnd in the darkened streets the painOh, how I long to find some solaceIn my mind I curse the strain
So farewell you streets of sorrowAnd farewell you streets of painNo, I'll not return to feel more sorrowNor to see more young men slain
There were six men in BirminghamIn Guildford there's fourThat were picked up and torturedAnd framed by the lawAnd the filth got promotionBut they're still doing timeFor being Irish in the wrong place and at the wrong time
In Ireland they'll put you away in the MazeIn England they'll keep you for seven long daysGod help you if ever you're caught on these shoresThe coppers need someone and they walk through that door
You'll be counting years, first five, then tenGrowing old in a lonely hell'Round the yard and the stinking cellFrom wall to wall, and back again
A curse on the judges, the coppers and screwsWho tortured the innocent, wrongly accusedFor the price of promotion and justice to sellMay the judged by their judges when they rot down in hell
You'll be counting years, first five, then tenGrowing old in a lonely hell'Round the yard and the lousy cellFrom wall to wall, then back again
May the whores of the empire lie awake in their bedsAnd sweat as they count out the sins on their headsWhile over in Ireland eight more men lie deadKicked down and shot in the back of the head
You'll be counting years, first five, then tenGrowing old in a freezing hell'Round the yard and the lousy cellFrom wall to wall, then back again
Counting years, first five, then tenGrowing old in a lonely hell'Round the yard and the lousy cellFrom wall to wall, then back again