Christy Moore - The Magdalene Laundries lyrics

Joanie was an unmarried girl
Just turned twenty-seven
When they sent her to the sisters because
Of the way men looked at her
Branded as a jezebel she knew she
Was not bound for heaven
She had been cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries

Most girls went there pregnant some
By their own fathers
Bridget got her belly from the Parish Priest
They're trying to wash things
As white as snow
All of those woe-begotten daughters
In the steaming stains of
The Magdalene laundries

Prostitutes and destitutes and
Temptresses like Joanie
Fallen women sentenced into
Dreamless drudgery
Why do the call this place
"Our Lady of Charity"? Of Charity?
These bloodless brides of Jesus if they
Could just once glimpse their groom
They'd drop the stones concealed
Behind their rosaries
They wilt the grass they walk upon they
Leech the light out of a room
They'd like to wash those girls down
The drains of The Magdalene Laundries

Peg O'Connell died today, she
Was a cheeky girl
They stuffed her in a hole
Surely to God you'd think at
Least some bells should ring
Joanie thinks she'll die there too and that
They'll tramp her in the dirt
Like some lame bulb that never will
Bloom when the springtime comes
When the springtime comes