Sons And Daughters - Lyrics - Ballydowse

Ballydowse was a celtic punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois with a rare mix of anarchist and religious ideas infused into their music. Many of the group's members were from the Jesus People USA commune. In addition to the group's Mekons Pogues-style Celtic punk influences, the group also draws from world musics such as klezmer and Tibetan throat singing. Ballydowse released two albums both engineered by Steve Albini. The debut was entitled The Land, the Bread, and the People and was a home place for many who found common cause with certain elements of Christianity while rejecting the American right wing bias so prominent in the church at the time. Their second album Fertile Crescent continued this trajectory with a growing Eastern European flavor. The group's political activism over the economic sanctions on Iraq in the 2000s, prison reform, death penalty and the short-comings of capitalism was unique among Christian bands of the time. The group disbanded in 2003.

You crawl up into your bed and pull the worn thin blanket over your head Trying hard to momentarily escape the touch you feel What is the worth of soul and skin? Price plummets down As each one comes in As if such short-armed men could ever reach that sacred place I am the God of Rahab I see past flesh and culture Never do I mistake the songbird for the vulture Your life burns pure before my eyes I name the *** and I crush the flies They dress you in scarlet but all that I know Is the child you are is white like the snow Bankok sun creeps out red-faced but without shame It knits in fire upon the hills the purity of your name Other names are knitted too but black the thread They form a noose rising slowly but steadily A gallows for grown men to hang their own hearts Pour from your soul the rice your family needs to eat Like Mary pouring oil on the Son of God's feet A child should sleep thru the dark in peace Another night's over, light comes to the east Pull your blanket over our head it's us who are dead