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

Now that our mountain is growing with people hungry for wealth
How come it's you that's a-going
And i'm left all alone by myself?
We used to hunt the cool caverns deep in our forest of green
Then came the road and the tavern and you found a new love it seems

Once i had you and the wildwood, now it's just dusty roads
And i can't help but blamin' your going
On the coming, the coming of the roads

Look how they've cut all to pieces our ancient redwood and oak
And the hillsides are stained with the greases
That burned up the heavens with smoke

You used to curse the bold crewmen
Who stripped our earth of its ore
Now you've changed and you've gone over to them
And you've learned to love what you hated before

Once i thanked god for my treasure, now like rust it corrodes
And i can't help but blamin' your goin'
On the coming, the coming of the roads.

Once i thanked god for my treasure, now like rust it corrodes
And i can't help but blamin' your goin'
On the coming, the coming of the roads.

And i can't help but blamin' your goin'
On the coming, the coming of the roads.

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)

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)

Go away from my window, leave at your own chosen speed
I'm not the one you want babe,
I'm not the one you need
You say you're lookin' for someone who's never weak,
But always strong
To protect you and defend you whether you are right or wrong
Someone to open each and every door...

Chorus:
But it ain't me babe, no, no, no
It ain't me babe, it ain't me you're looking for.

Go lightly from the ledge babe, go lightly on the ground
I'm not the one you want babe; i'd only let you down.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Who will promise never to part
Someome to close his eyes for you,
Someone to close his heart
Someone to die for you and more

(chorus)

Go melt back in the night babe,
'cause everything inside is made of stone
There's nothin' in here moving, and anyway i'm not alone
You say you're lookin' for someone
To pick you up each time you fall
To gather flowers constantly and to come each time you call
A lover for your life and nothing more.

But it ain't me babe, no, no, no
It ain't me babe, no, no, no
It ain't me babe, it ain't me you're looking for.

It ain't me babe, no, no, no
It ain't me babe, it ain't me you're looking for...babe

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

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.