The band has recorded many albums of instrumental Irish folk music, as well as multiple collaborations with popular musicians of many genres, including Country music, Galician traditional music, Cape Breton and Newfoundland music, and rock and roll. They have performed with Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Roger Daltrey, Elvis Costello, Tom Jones, Sinéad O'Connor, James Galway, Jackson Browne, Nancy Griffith and numerous Country-western artists. In 1975, the group won praise for their playing of "Women of Ireland" for Stanley Kubrick's movie Barry Lyndon.
They have won six Grammy Awards and have been nominated eighteen times. In 2002 they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK's BBC Radio 2. The front covers of the first four albums were designed by Edward Delaney.
Paddy Moloney is the band's leader, and composes or arranges most of the band's music. While the band's members changed numerous times in the band's early history, the membership solidified in 1979 when Matt Molloy replaced Michael Tubridy.
From then until 2002, members included:
Paddy Moloney (uilleann pipes, tin whistle, button accordion, bodhrán)
Matt Molloy (flute, tin whistle)
Kevin Conneff (bodhrán, vocals)
Seán Keane (fiddle, tin whistle)
Martin Fay (fiddle, bones) (born 1938; died 14 November 2012)
Derek Bell (Irish harp, keyboard instruments, oboe) (born 21 October 1935; died 17 October 2002)
In 2002, Fay retired from active membership. In the same year, Bell died due to complications following a minor operation. Fay died on 14 November 2012.
The Magdalene Laundries
The Chieftains Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me
Branded as a Jezebel
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries
Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers
Bridget got that belly by her parish priest
We're trying to get things white as snow
All of us woe-begotten-daughters
In the streaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries
Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me
Fallen women
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh charity!
These bloodless brides of Jesus
If they had just once glimpsed their groom
Then they'd know, and they'd drop the stones
Concealed behind their rosaries
They wilt the grass they walk upon
They leech the light out of a room
They'd like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene laundries
Peg O'Connell died today
She was a cheeky girl
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole!
Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring!
One day I'm going to die here too
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms, come any spring
Not any spring
The Magdalene Laundries by The Chieftains is a heart-wrenching song that sheds light on the unfathomable sufferings that women had to go through in Ireland's Magdalene Laundries. The song offers a glimpse into the lives of unmarried and young women deemed "fallen" by the Irish society and sent to these institutions to be reformed. The singer, an unmarried girl, describes her experience of being cast away to the laundries at just 27 years old. She has been labeled a Jezebel, and her fate is sealed due to the supposed threat she poses to the Church's sanctity. The Magdalene laundries are portrayed as places of heartless treatment and exploitation, where women are forced to work endlessly and endure physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the nuns in charge. The song captures the pain and anguish of these women whose lives are torn apart.
The lyrics also highlight the appalling instances of sexual abuse prevalent in these institutions, with "some girls coming here pregnant, some by their own fathers." The maternal figure of the Church is shattered as the nuns' so-called charity proves to be nothing more than a disguise for their cruelty. The line "these bloodless brides of Jesus" refers to the nuns who are believed to be wedded to Christ, and the irony is that these women, who are meant to be the embodiment of compassion, show no mercy to their fellow women.
The song shows how the Magdalene laundries robbed these women of everything, not just their present, but also their future. With "some lame bulb that never blooms," the singer reveals how shameful and degrading labels of "fallen" women can lead to them being stripped of their dignity and excluded from their society. The silence of the Church and the Irish government regarding these institutions' atrocities remained hidden for years, with many women being buried without any family to mourn them. The Magdalene Laundries were eventually shut down in 1996, and a significant victory was achieved for the survivors' fight for justice.
Line by Line Meaning
I was an unmarried girl
I was a young woman who was not married
I'd just turned twenty-seven
I had recently celebrated my twenty-seventh birthday
When they sent me to the sisters
When I was taken to a group of nuns or sisters
For the way men looked at me
Because of the way that men looked at me or treated me
Branded as a Jezebel
Labeled as a promiscuous or immoral woman
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I believed that I would not go to Heaven after I died
I'd be cast in shame
I would be humiliated and shamed
Into the Magdalene laundries
Taken to a place called the Magdalene laundries
Most girls come here pregnant
The majority of the women who come to this place are pregnant
Some by their own fathers
Some of these women became pregnant through incest with their own fathers
Bridget got that belly by her parish priest
Bridget became pregnant by her local religious leader or priest
We're trying to get things white as snow
We are attempting to wash clothes and other items until they are perfectly clean
All of us woe-begotten-daughters
All of us are unfortunate daughters who have experienced hardship
In the streaming stains
In the marks or stains on the clothes or other items that we are washing
Of the Magdalene laundries
This is a reference to the name of the place we are in, the Magdalene laundries
Prostitutes and destitutes
Women who have worked as prostitutes or who are poor and lacking financial resources
And temptresses like me
Women who are seen as seductive or tempting, like myself
Fallen women
Women who are considered to have sinned or strayed from the path of righteousness and virtue
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery
Punished by being forced into monotonous, exhausting work with little excitement or hope
Why do they call this heartless place
A question asking why this place is referred to as a heartless or cruel place
Our Lady of Charity?
This is a reference to the name of the religious order that runs this place
Oh charity!
An exclamation of frustration or anger at the irony of this name given the cruelty of the place
These bloodless brides of Jesus
Women who have devoted themselves to serving Jesus and the church, often referred to as 'brides of Christ'
If they had just once glimpsed their groom
If these women had ever experienced true intimacy or connection with Jesus, their supposed 'groom'
Then they'd know, and they'd drop the stones
Then they would understand the errors of their ways and cast aside their judgmental attitudes
Concealed behind their rosaries
Their judgmental attitudes and hypocrisy are hidden or disguised behind their religious icons or symbols
They wilt the grass they walk upon
These women bring a sense of death and decay wherever they go, even to the natural world
They leech the light out of a room
These women bring a sense of darkness or despair wherever they go, making bright spaces become dim
They'd like to drive us down the drain
These women (or perhaps the system that they represent) would prefer to see us, as fallen women, completely eradicated or disposed of
At the Magdalene laundries
This line refers to the cruel and oppressive system in which we are trapped
Peg O'Connell died today
A woman named Peg O'Connell passed away recently
She was a cheeky girl / A flirt
Peg O'Connell was known for being playful and flirty
They just stuffed her in a hole!
A comment on the indignity or lack of dignity surrounding Peg O'Connell's death and burial
Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring!
Expressing dismay or sadness that there was no celebration or honor given to Peg O'Connell after her death
One day I'm going to die here too
A recognition that the women in this place will likely die here or not find any freedom or escape before death
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Explaining the reality of how these women will be buried after they pass away
Like some lame bulb
Describing the feeling of insignificance or unworthiness that the singer associates with herself and the other women here
That never blooms, come any spring
Referring to the idea that the women here will never be able to flourish or grow, no matter how much time or life they experience
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JONI MITCHELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
tom canterbury
on North Amerikay
the great accapella version by kevin on tribute to their harpist