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Belfast to Boston Lyrics
There are rifles buried in the countryside for the rising of the moon,
may they lie there long forgotten till they rust away into the ground.
Who will bend this ancient hatred, will the killing to an end?
Who will swallow long injustice, take the devil for a country man?
Who will say "this far no further, oh lord, if I die today?"
Send no weapons no more money. Send no vengeance across the seas,
just the blessing of forgiveness for my new countryman and me.
Missing brothers, martyred fellows, silent children in the ground.
Could we but hear them could they not tell us "Time to lay God's rifle down."
Who will say, "this far, no further," oh Lord, if I die today?
may they lie there long forgotten till they rust away into the ground.
Who will bend this ancient hatred, will the killing to an end?
Who will swallow long injustice, take the devil for a country man?
Who will say "this far no further, oh lord, if I die today?"
just the blessing of forgiveness for my new countryman and me.
Could we but hear them could they not tell us "Time to lay God's rifle down."
Who will say, "this far, no further," oh Lord, if I die today?
Song Info
Submitted by
bmccullo On May 07, 2004
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This could be a great peace song, if everyone would listen to it. But that's not realistic.
I think that's really what he was trying to do with it though -- "Who will say this far, no further, Oh lord, if I die today?" -- who else will stop it but one man, believing in his power to change someone's mind through a song? To relay the message from the fallen soldiers, "Time to lay God's rifle down." He says it perfectly, and one can only wish people in power would listen and heed his words.
Released in 2002, just as the Good Friday accords of 1998 were taking hold, this song is supposed to be a message from the people of Belfast to those in the Boston area to stop sending money to the more extreme groups in Northern Ireland who were against the accords. While violence was down in NI, there were still tensions and it was known that the IRA (and probably the Loyalists as well) has stashed away arms in case the violence of the Troubles resumed. Eventually the IRA turned over their arms, and while tensions and divisions remain to this day (2018), it is playing out in the political arena rather than through the constant threat of violence.