Birthday / The Pain - For Those I Love

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

Body dumped on me road

When I was six

Stabbed to death and left on the bricks

No training that week

My coach couldn’t speak

Blood on his hands as the man died at his feet

And me

I stood at the scene

No sheets to block the bodies we dream

They stay evergreen

Senior infants show and tell

What did ya do the weekend, are ya well?

Stand in front of the class as they ask

Ya tell them you looked at the blood left on the road, from the man who slept

in the field outside your window

Got thrown out of a car with a knife through his heart

In the morning stars

Terrified

I went quiet and I stood

And I started to run from love

'Cause you’re told

You need to grow cold to grow old

I was 7, in that same field beside me gaff

Kicking through the leaves and the grass

Until two garda rock up batons in hand

And leave ya crying for your Mam

And this is no dramatics

This is no tales of 90's classics

You spend your whole life being brave

And you hope things will change

So don’t fucking ask me why I don’t want to age

It just marks the time of things staying the same

But the songs sound fun, and you dance with your mates

And it’s grand then

Until the next day

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

Then you’re 9, 10, and 11

In the same place the garda got ya at 7

Takin' the sides off trains with stones

We did that 'cause we were broke

We did that 'cause we had no hope

Or place to go

Or well

We did that 'cause we didn’t say no 20 years ago

And it still comes out still when we get vocal

Singing in the local

A lonely feeling came over me stealing

Some sober as a judge

The other boys out the nut

And all of us dancing like there’s no one left in the world but us

And these days it feels like there isn’t

There’s no way to put that loss into words

But we’ll wrap arms around shoulders and scream love from our lungs

We’ll escape to Friday football and hugs

And tell tales of nights and days spent in teenage fun

'Cause the world is a cruel, cruel place without the love

So we’ll spend the rest of our life being brave

And hope that things will change

And age will still mark the time in the same way

But I’ll hold on a little tighter

To the love of my mates

Forever and a day

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I keep giving up on her

Keeps on running away

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

I know, I know whispering words of freedom

It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face

It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face

I can’t face the day

It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face

It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face

I can’t face the day