Life in a Tenement Square
Flogging Molly Lyrics

Well, I kissed the day, I was on my way
I felt relieved to be leaving the cold, gray, stone blocks that had been my home for seventeen miserable years.

From those cold gray blocks of stone
My former dwelling was unappealing and unwelcoming.

For seventeen years of squalor filled tears
The previous seventeen years were marked by poverty, despair, and frequent weeping.

A time now with innocence lost
Those years of struggle and hardship had taken away my youthful naivety.

As the sun split the room
Even the sun's rays felt dim and bleak in that dreary place.

With its rays filled with gloom
The daylight brought no warmth or hope.

Turnin' all hope to despair
The oppressive atmosphere in that building destroyed any optimism or positivity.

And the only thing left
As a result of this desolation,

Was to flee from the nest
I knew that my only option was to leave that oppressive environment and search for a better life elsewhere.

That was life in a tenement square
The tenement square was a wretched place to live.

I remember the song where the rats sang along
I recall hearing the sound of rats in the building, keeping time to a tune.

And danced for their daily bread
The rats were starving and desperate, like the human inhabitants.

While the damp washed the walls
The moisture in the air had stained the walls a dirty brown.

That were twenty feet tall
The building itself was enormous, a towering edifice.

Not a child in the house was fed
None of the children living there had enough food to eat.

On the porter filled face
You could see the effects of the drink on the faces of the men who frequented the local pub.

Of the men left a trace
These men had little to no money, but they still found ways to purchase alcohol.

Of the coin they had already spent
Whatever money they had was quickly squandered on drink.

While our mothers asked God
The mothers in this building had very little agency, and so they turned to a higher power for help.

What was hell ever for
They wondered why they were living in such terrible conditions, and what purpose these struggles could possibly serve.

When you lived in a tenement square
This sort of misery was all too common in buildings like this.

Grab what's left of the coal
We were so poor that we scavenged for leftover coal to use for heat.

From the old cubbyhole
We kept our meager supplies in a cramped, musty space.

These cinders need more to be a fire
We were never warm enough, and our heating source was pitifully inadequate.

While the ghosts of the soldiers
Previous occupants of the tenement, who had fought for their country, loomed over us like a specter.

That lived there before us
We were living where others before us had survived in similarly dire circumstances.

Laugh with their guns by their side
These former soldiers seemed to mock our current struggles, and we felt powerless in comparison.

Now politicians they dwell
The very people who were supposed to be improving society were instead profiting from the suffering of people like us.

In that forgotten hell
The misery of the tenements had been swept under the rug by the powers that be.

Our misery's been turned into mews
What had once been a site of suffering was now an upscale residential area.

Where the fat of the land
Those in power were now enjoying the fruits of our labors.

Now hog, hand in hand
The elite were greedily profiting at our expense, and they didn't care who they harmed in the process.

A crime now of life was ever true
It was a criminal act to make people live in such terrible conditions, but nobody had ever been held accountable.

As the sun split the room
Even in this new development, the sun's rays seemed to be harsh and unforgiving.

With its rays filled with gloom
The light brought no warmth or relief to those still living in poverty.

Turnin' all hope to despair
The situation felt just as hopeless as it had always been.

And the only thing left
In light of this,

Was to flee from the nest
We knew that our only real choice was to leave that place behind.

That was life in a tenement square
This is the sad reality that so many people have had to endure throughout history.