Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again?
Five hundred years like gelignite
Have blown us all to hell

What saviour rests while on his cross we die?
Forgotten freedom burns
Has the shepherd led his lambs astray
To the bigot and the gun?

Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again?
'Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singing drunken lullabies

I watch and stare as Roisín's eyes
Turn a darker shade of red
And the bullet with this sniper lie
In their bloody gutless cell

Must we starve on crumbs from long ago
Through bars these men made steel?
Is it a great or little thing we fought
Knelt the conscience blessed to kill?

Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again?
'Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singing drunken lullabies

Ah but maybe it's the way we're taught
Ah, but maybe it's the way we fought
But a smile never grins without tears to begin
For each kiss is a cry we all lost

Though nothing is left to gain
But for the banshee that stole the grave
'Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singing drunken lullabies

I sit and dwell on faces past
Like memories seem to fade
No colour left but black and white
And soon will all turn grey

But may these shadows rise to walk again
With lessons truly learnt
When the blossom flowers in each our hearts
Shall beat a newfound flame

Must it take a life for hateful eyes
To glisten once again?
'Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singing drunken lullabies

'Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess
Singing drunken lullabies

Singing drunken lullabies