The one Eleanor Shanley sings (same title, different song) packs even more punch:

Magdalen Laundry

Johnny Mulhern & Con Cop

For seventeen years I've been
Scrubbing this washboard
Ever since the fellas started in after me
My mother poor soul didn't know what to do
The Canon said "Child there's a place for you"
Now I'm serving my time at the Magdalen Laundry
I'm towing the line at the Magdalen Laundry

There's girls from the country
Girls from the town
Their bony white elbows going up and down
The reverend mother as she glides through the place
A tight little smile on the side of her face
She's running the show at the Magdalen Laundry
She's got nowhere to go but the Magdalen Laundry

Oh Lord won't you let me
Don't you let me
Won't you let me wash away the stain
Oh Lord won't you let me wash away the stain

I'm washing altar linen and cassocks and stoles
I'm scrubbing long johns for these holy joes
We know where they've been when
They're not saving souls
What the red wine split what the
Smooth hand poured
We're squeezing it out at the Magdalen Laundry
We're scrubbing it out at the Magdalen Laundry

Oh Lord won't you let me
Don't you let me
Won't you let me wash away the stain
Oh Lord won't you let me wash away the stain

Sunday afternoon when the Lord's at rest
It's off to the prom, watch the waves roll by
We're chewing on our toffees hear
The seagulls squawk
"There go the maggies" hear the children talk
Through our faces they stare at
The Magdalen Laundry
In our eyes see the glare of the Magdalen Laundry

Oh Lord won't you let me
Don't you let me
Won't you let me wash away the stain
Oh Lord won't you let me wash away the stain