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This graveyard hides a million secrets, |
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And the trees know more than they can tell. |
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The ghosts of the saints and the scholars will haunt you, |
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In heaven and in hell. |
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Rattled by the glimmer man, the boogie man, the holy man, |
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And livin' in the shadows, in the shadows of a gunman. |
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Rattled like the coppers in your greasy till, |
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Rattled until time stood still. |
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Look over your shoulder, hear the school bell ring, |
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Another day of made-to-measure history. |
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I don't care if your heroes have wings, |
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Your terrible beauty has been torn. |
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CHORUS |
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Faithful departed, we fickle hearted, |
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As you are now so once were we. |
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Faithful departed, we the meek hearted, |
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With graces imparting bring flowers to thee. |
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The girls in the kips proclaim their love for you |
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When you stumbled in they knew you had a shilling or two. |
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They cursed you on Sundays and holy days of abstinence, |
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When you all stayed away. |
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When you slept there a naked bulb hid your shame, |
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Your shadows on the wall, they took all the blame. |
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The Sacred Heart's picture, compassion in his eyes, |
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Drowned out the river of sighs. |
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Let the grass grow green over the brewery tonight, |
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It'll never come between the darkness and the light. |
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There is no pain that can't be eased, |
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By the devil's holy water and the rosary beads. |
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CHORUS |
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You're a history book I never could write, |
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Poetry in paralysis, too deep to recite. |
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Dress yourself, bless yourself, you've won the fight, |
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We're gonna celebrate the night. |
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We'll even climb the pillar like you always meant to, |
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Watch the sun rise over the strand. |
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Close your eyes and we'll pretend, |
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It could somehow be the same again. |
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I'll bury you upright so the sun doesn't blind you. |
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You won't have to gaze at the rain and the stars. |
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Sleep and dream of chapels and bars, |
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And whiskey in the jar. |
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FINAL CHORUS |
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Faithful departed, look what you've started; |
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An underdog's wounds aren't so easy to mend. |
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Faithful departed, there's no broken hearted, |
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And no more tristesse in your world without end. |
