[G]joannie was an umarried girl just turned twenty seven
when thay[G] sent her to the sisters because of the way
men[Em] looked at her
[C branded as a jezabel she knew she[Em] was not bound for heaven
she had[C] been cast in shame into the[D] magdelen[G] launderies
most girls went there pregnant [Em]some by there own fathers
[G] bridget got her belly from the[Em] parish priest
there trying to[C] get things white as snow
all those[Em] woe begotten daughters
in the[C] streaming stains of the[D] magdelen[G] laundries
[C] prostitutes and destitutes and[Em] temptresses like joanie
[C] fallen woman sentenced to[Em] dreamless drudgery
[C] why do thay call this heartless place our[Em] lady of charity-of[C] charity
[G]does bloodless brides of jesus if thay could[Em] just once glimpse there groom
[G]thay drop the stones concealed behind there[Em] rosaries
[C]thay wilt the grass thay walk upon,thay[Em] leech light out of a room
they,d like to[C] wash those girls down the[D] drains of the magdlen laundries
[G]peg o connell died today she was a[Em] cheeky girl
thay stuffed her in a hole
[G] surely to god you,d think at least some[Em] bells should ring
[C] joanie thinks she,l die there to,and thay,l[Em] tramp her in the dirt
like[C] some lame bulb that never will bloom when the[Em] springtime comes
when the[C] spring time comes
