Mother Don't You Cry

I was sitting out the back one idle Sunday

Watching all the junkies as they slowly drifted by

The rain was coming down on this faded little town

As I poured myself another dirty pint

The landlord he came by for me this morning

He came for all the money that he said I hadn't paid

I grabbed him by the throat and cursed his name until he broke

He sure as hell won't come round here again

Mother don't you cry

I'll be home before the night

Can leave me lying face down in the drain

Then I went spilling out onto the pavement

Talking to the shadows that still slept beside the wall

Said that I had fought as a soldier in the war

But that I'd thrown my medals all away

Maybe I was dreaming when I saw my brothers die

Maybe I was high on poppy seed

But anyhow their blood it seems to linger in the mind

It wakes me up I can't get back to sleep

Mother don't you cry

I'll be home before the night

Can leave me lying face down in the drain

My father he is out and looking for me

He was drinking with the gypsies in a pub just down the road

See these crooked scars that he left all down my arm

With a belt when I didn't make it home

Now the boys and I are going heavy

If you've any sense then you'd leave us well alone

Screaming at the sky, looking wild in the eye

As the whiskey tears the flesh all from our bones

Mother don't you cry

I'll be home before the night

Can leave me lying face down in the drain

Mother please don't cry

They found me just the other night

Bleeding out into the drain