Song of the Faithful Departed Letra

In heaven or in hell

Rattled by the Glimmerman, the Bogey-man, the Holy man
And living in the shadows, in the shadows of the gunman
Rattled like the coppers in your greasy till
Rattled until time stood still

Look across your shoulder and the schoolbell rings
Another day of made-to-measure history
Well I don't mind that your heroes all have wings
But your terrible beauty is torn

Faithful Departed
We fickle-hearted
As you are now so once were we
Faithful Departed
We the meek hearted
With graces imparted
Bring flowers to thee

The girls from the kips proclaim their love for you
When you stumbled in they knew you had a shilling or two
But they cursed you on Sundays
And Holy days of abstinence
And when you all stayed away

And when you slept there
A naked light bulb blinded your shame
The shadow on the wall took all of the lame
And the Sacred hearts picture compassion in His eyes
Drowned out the river's sighs

Ah let the grass grow green over the brewery tonight
It'll never come between the darkness and the light
And there's nothing too sick that can't be eased
By the devil's holy water and the rosary beads

Faithful Departed
We fickle-hearted
As you are now so once were we
Faithful Departed
We the meek hearted
With graces imparted
Bring flowers to thee

You're a history book which I could never write
Your poetry in paralysis too deep to recite
So dress yourself and bless yourself
You've won the fight
We're gonna celebrate tonight

Maybe we'll even climb a pillar
Like you always meant to
And watch the sun rise over the strand
We'll close our eyes and we'll pretend
That it could be the same again

And then I'll bury you upright
So the sun doesn't blind you
And you don't have to gaze at the rain and the stars
You can sleep and dream of the Moral Bar
And whiskey in the jar

Faithful Departed
Look what you started
An underdog's wounds aren't so easy to mend
Faithful Departed
There's no broken hearted
And no more tristesse
In your world without end.