Flowers And Stones

They build bombs and aim their pistols in the shadow of the cross
And they swear an oath of vengeance to the martyrs they have lost
But they pray for peace on sundays with a rosary in each hand
It's long memories and short tempers that have cursed poor ireland
It's long memories and short tempers that have cursed poor ireland

We have cousins on the old sod and we don't forget our kin
From boston we send more guns and we tell them they can win
Then we turn back to our green beer and to macnamara's band
It's true friends with false perceptions that have cursed poor ireland
True friends with false perceptions that have cursed poor ireland

They weave tales of wit and magic and their songs are strong and free
But they fail to hear each other, prisoners of history
Orange flags wave for the british to greet the army's clicking heel
And irish curse their irish brother for the altar where they kneel
And now provoked to greater anger by the distant royal hand
It's old hatreds and young victims that have cursed poor ireland
Old hatreds and young victims that have cursed poor ireland

So we're left with retribution it's the cycle of the damned
And the hope becomes more distant as the flames of hate are fanned
Who will listen to the children for they're taught to take their stand
They say love and true forgiveness can still heal fair ireland
They say love and true forgiveness can still heal fair ireland

Only love and real forgiveness can still heal fair ireland

On the day little danny arrived
His father stared and his mother cried
They knew his name but they didn't know why
He looked the way he did
This thing happens to other kids
How in the world are we gonna live
With a boy like that?

Doctor said,"dan's the first bad news
Second is his heart won't make it through
It must be fixed unless you choose
To send him back where he came
Starve the boy from his name
Just six short days of pain
Or maybe less"

Chorus:
Danny's downs but love is up
It's been known to be more than enough
For more and more of us
Danny's downs but love is up

"i'm not that strong," his father said
"the dreams are gone, the hopes have fled
Won't be long after he's dead
We'll try again to find
The child we had in mind
Where the hell are those papers to sign?"
And the man broke down

In a private room danny's mother wept
As an old jamaican woman swept
And not by chance their eyes met
(and she said)
"god's gifts are only good y'know
And there ain't no love the lord can't grow
Aw honey, take that boy with ya when ya go
Back home

(chorus)

It's been eight years since the surgery
His sister's 5, his brother's 3
He goes to school and he knows how to read
He takes the bus home by himself
Puts his lunch pail back upon the shelf
And he hugs his momma till she melts
To the floor

They're more than a home, they're a family
'cause blood and bones are still souls y'see
And someone's baby's just another danny
And in the guest room in the back
Lives this old jamaican black
'cause when you give a gift
God gives it back again.

(chorus)

My momma told me at the age of seven
Everything that's good in life is a gift from heaven
And since we met, i'd have to bet that's true
There are times i look into your eyes when
I can see the light of love inside comin' shinin' through
And i love that love in you.

I don't how to thank a mystery,
Does anybody ever...
I only know my heart has found its destiny
When i see that love(in)...

You and me, natural selection
Appetite for wisdom and a thirst for affection
How could we not? i haven't got a clue...
Call it luck, call it coincidental
Or maybe someone who is wise and gentle
Helping us to choose
And i love that love in you

It's a world in tribulation
Everyone is waiting for some kind of revelation
I believe we just might see it soon
But i have got a smile upon my face since
I have found this sensational point of view
And i love that love in you

Is this a vision or a memory?
Have we been given all we ever need?
Oh i love that love in...
Love that love in, love that love in...

Well i'm not worried 'bout the plans we're makin'
Just as long as every step we're takin'
Is two by two by two...
And i love that love in you.

Well how do you do private william mcbride
Do you mind if i sit here down by your graveside?
I'll rest for awhile in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day and i'm nearly done

And i see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916
And i hope you died quick and i hope you died clean
Or william mcbride was it slow and obscene?

Chorus:
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle play the last post and chorus?
Did the pipes play the "flowers o' the forest"?

Well the sun it shines now on these green fields of france
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished now under the plow
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns fire now

For here in this graveyard it's still no man's land
And the countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation who butchered and damned

(chorus)

Well i can't help but wonder now, willie mcbride
Do all those who lie here know just why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause?
Did you really believe this war would end all wars?

But the suffering the sorrow the glory the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain
For william mcbride it's all happened again
And again and again and again and again.

(chorus)

Chorus:
Listen, mr. bigot, listen to me, i'll give you a lesson in history
Listen while i tell you that the foreigners you hate
Are the very same people made america great.
Oh listen mr. bigot, uh-huh...listen mr. bigot

In 1492, just to see what he could see
Columbus, who was an italian set out across the sea
He said "isabella, baby, the world is round
And the usa's just awaitin' to be found."

(chorus)

Oh listen mr. bigot, (well, some of my best friends are)
Listen mr. bigot (oh, they like to live with their own kind)

Well when the king of england started pushin' yanks around
They had a little trouble up in boston town
But a brave, black, crispus attucks was the man
The first one to fall when the fightin' began.

(chorus)

Oh listen mr. bigot,
(they can't help it. it's their cultural point of view)
Listen mr. bigot (they all look alike to me!)

Now bigot, you're taking one hell of a chance
Your good friends the duponts, came over from france
Another thing i'm sure will be news to you
The first mr. bigot was a foreigner too.

(chorus)

You don't like blacks, you don't like jews
Well if there's anyone you do like, it sure is news
You don't like poles, hispanics too
Anyway they serve you up, we don't like you

(chorus)

Oh listen mr. bigot,
(well there we were on the beach, just trying to get some sun
And up comes a busload of them, well first they got these boxes that play this music, i mean it's not even in english.
Then they take out these stoves or hibachi's or something
The smoke was dreadful, the smell was even worse.
I wouldn't let my daughter marry one, ya know?)

Listen mr. bigot

As i went out one evenin' down columbus avenue
All the sushi bars were shuttered, dark cantinas too
And i stood there in the darkness,as an empty cab rolled by
Then all at once i heard the sound of yuppies in the sky

Then the herd came down columbus, for as far as i could see
All the men were wearing polo, and the women wore esprit
Each yuppie had a walk-man and as each one passed me by
I saw their sad expressions and i heard their mournful cry

Chorus:
Condos for sale, condos to buy, yuppies in the sky

Each one was wearing running shoes upon the ghostly deck
And each one had a cotton sweater wrapped around the neck
They all held out their credit cards and tried in vain to buy
But not a store was open to the yuppies in the sky.

(chorus)

(the yuppie-i-o)
I've seen them in commercials sailin' boats and playin' ball
Pourin' beer for one another cryin', "why not have it all?"
Now i saw the ghostly progress as the winds around me blew
Till i, i felt the urge to purchase a bmw

(chorus)

All the salad bars were empty, all the quiche lorraine was gone
I heard the yuppies crying as they vanished in the dawn
Calling brand names to each other, as they faded from my view
They'll be networking forever down columbus avenue
(move those mini-vans out!)

(chorus)

There was a ship that sailed all on the lowland sea
And the name of the ship was the golden vanity
And we feared she would be taken by the spanish enemy
As she sailed upon the lowland, lowland, lowland
Sailed upon the lowland sea.

Then up spoke our cabinboy and boldly out spoke he
And he said to our captain "what will you give to me
If i swim along the side of the spanish enemy
And i sink her in the lowland sea?"

"oh i will give you silver and i will give you gold
And my own fair daughter your bonny bride shall be
If you'll swim along the side of the spanish enemy
And you'll sink her in the lowland, lowland, lowland
Sink her in the lowland sea.

Then the boy he made him ready and overboard sprang he
And he swam to the side of the spanish enemy
With his brace and auger in her side he bored holes three
And sank he her in the lowland sea.

Then quickly he swam back to the cheering of the crew
But the captain would not heed him, his promise he did rue
And he scorned his poor entreatings when loudly he did sue
And left him in the lowland,lowland, lowland
Left him in the lowland sea.

Then the boy he turned round and he swam to the port side
And up to his messmates full bitterly he cried
"o messmates, draw me up, for i'm drifting with the tide
And i'm sinking in the lowland, lowland, lowland
Sinking in the lowland sea."

Then his messmates drew him up, but on the deck he died
And they stitched him in a hammock which was so fair and white
And they low'red him overboard, and he drifted with the tide
And he sank into the lowland, lowland, lowland
Sank into the lowland sea.

There was a ship that sailed all on the lowland sea
And the name of the ship was the golden vanity
And we feared she would be taken by the spanish enemy
As she sailed upon the lowland, lowland, lowland
Sailed upon the lowland sea.

As she sailed upon the lowland, lowland, lowland
Sailed upon the lowland sea.