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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Wolfgang Hell Lyr ADD: Last House on Our Street (Colum Sands) (6) Lyr Add: LAST HOUSE IN OUR STREET (Colum Sands) 24 Feb 98


Here it is from the Sands family album "Tell Me What You See" (a German release).

It is a sad song on a part of Belfast. The last time I have seen Belfast was in 1967. It looked quite different then. Alison has told us how different many (most?) parts of Belfast still look like compared to the prejudices nursed by TV. I believe her from what I have seen in other towns of Northern Ireland after 1967. But there are those parts of the City this song is about.

Colum Sands wrote the song after the group performed in Cyprus Street, Belfast, in 1982. He writes (not his exact words, but my retranslation from a German translation):
"We had the address where the gig was to happen, but when we arrived at the specified street, it seemed to be totally uninhabited and deserted. All windows were bricked and stared at each other like with blind eyes. We thought it was all a mistake and just wanted to drive on when we saw a little girl playing ball at the other end of the street. We asked for the address and she led us through rubble and empty houses to the hall in a backyard in which we were supposed to play. I wrote this song about the little girl playing all alone in a street, in a world, of which only few people know or want to know."

Wolfgang

THE LAST HOUSE IN OUR STREET
(Words and Music: Colum Sands)

1. The last house in our street is the one that we are living in.
Throw the ball against the wall and back to me.
All the other windows have concrete curtains.
Open up your eyes and tell me what you see.

2. The flowers in our garden are made of bricks and broken glass.
Throw the ball, etc.
And 'round the back we're growing an outside toilet.
Open up your eyes, etc.

3. Wee Albert Mooney was blinded by a petrol bomb....
The bomber said, "we're sorry, it must have been an accident." ...

4. A big rubber bullet killed little Johnny Morrisey....
A policeman fired it. It must have been an accident....

5. God made the world, and Belfast is a part of it....
Sometimes I wonder if Belfast was an accident....

6. There's a wall, so there is, between us and them, there is....
Is there anyone can tell me that they didn't help in building it? ...

7. But the eyes of the world have concrete curtains....
Would you tear down the wall? Would you open up the windows? ...
Would you open up your eyes and tell me what you see?

Repeat first verse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxMgNGyxdVI


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