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(spoken word)

blackbird

it was the orphans who got it bad from those bastards - the ones who had no one to look after them, no one to notice the bruises and broken limbs, no one to notice if they disappeared. the christian brothers were an organisation of pederasts and sadists, but in ireland and elsewhere they had two sides – there were also lots of really good teachers who ran the posh prep schools that trained half the rulers of the irish state.

my friend tom was put in a christian brothers home when he was eleven years old. he was beaten and tortured, but his mother and sisters were still alive, so he 'had it good' compared to the orphans. he said you would see a kid in the hallways who had become small and withdrawn, who would jump at sudden noises, and you would know that they had started in on him.

a couple years ago, the rulers of the irish state flew tom back to his old school to show them where the bodies were buried. there is talk of him getting money in compensation - big, big money - but so far as i know, it hasn't happened yet.

the christian brothers murdered my friend
he walks the streets and writes songs
beautiful songs that break your heart
but he is dead, long dead
he waits for the time they will cart him off
he drinks tennants and special brew
and has long since abandoned his wife
his son, his chances, all his wonderful chances
he's a selfish bastard
but no one blames him very much

in my courtyard there is a blackbird who has come unstuck in time
he wakes us hours before dawn and sings his heart out
only to fall silent long before the sun has even thought of coming up
this morning, he woke me at three a.m.
i thought of tom and wrote this down

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