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If I Should Fall From Grace With God Lyrics
If I should fall from grace with God
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me
Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
This land was always ours
Was the proud land of our fathers
It belongs to us and them
Not to any of the others
Let them go, boys
Let them go, boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
Bury me at sea
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
If I rock upon the waves
Then no corpse can lie upon me
It's coming up three, boys
Keeps coming up three, boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
If I should fall from grace with God
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me
Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
Was the proud land of our fathers
It belongs to us and them
Not to any of the others
Let them go, boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
If I rock upon the waves
Then no corpse can lie upon me
Keeps coming up three, boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry
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Sorry to my Irish cousins but America doesn't teach proper history. Let me try:
If I should fall from grace with God Where no doctor can relieve me If I'm buried 'neath the sod But the angels won't receive me
(this is saying that if Ireland is coerced away from the Catholic Church, the heavens won't receive them - it has to do with the Protestant Reformation and England's penal laws - when England committed genocide on the Irish in the 1640s. Of 1.6M, the English killed 600K Irish and sent another 300K abroad as slaves - mostly to America - SURPRISE and hello! YES. There were WHITE salves in America. By 1650 there were more Irish Catholic Slaves in America than there were English colonist. Still are too!)
Let me go down in the mud Where the rivers all run dry (if we fall from grace, then there's no salvation - we simply die and the rivers run dry aka the after life is void)
This land was always ours Was the proud land of our fathers It belongs to us and them Not to any of the others
(refers to the English invasion & colonization of "NORTHERN IRELAND." You know - occupation. The English forced Scottish salves - after committing the same genocide there and taking over its country - into NORTHERN IRELAND. The land of OUR fathers belongs to us, by way of our fathers and belongs to no other. Like Scott-Irish who are still beholden to the UK - unlike the rest of Ireland)
Bury me at sea Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
(the murdered ghosts are Ireland's forefathers, who haunt the land taken from them b/c of their faith - Roman Catholic vs Protestants. BTW Ireland. We are the 2nd largest nationality in America with the largest denomination - but we miss OUR LAND too)
If I rock upon the waves Then no corpse can lie upon me (so many Irish were killed by the English that people were buried upon one another)
Bury me at sea, Where no murdered ghost can haunt me (the Wild Geese aka the Irish sent abroad as slaves. So many Irish were killed on slave ships that bodies littered the ocean & were likened to bread crumbs leading the way to County Cork from the port of NYC - and later Boston)
In closing - the Irish in America made up 1/3rd of the Union Army. My ancestors fought under Col Corcoran & General William T Sherman. We fought ("Fighting Irish" - see Fr Corby. Notre Dame) & earned our right to FREEDOM & INDEPENDENCE. Whats troubling to me, is now some IRISH want to go back to DEPENDING on Govt (RULERS)
NO NAY NEVER. NO NAY NEVER NO MORE!
Paddy1640. I believe that your answer hit the nail on the head: "(this is saying that if Ireland is coerced away from the Catholic Church, the heavens won't receive them - it has to do with the Protestant Reformation and England's penal laws....." it makes alot of sense. These Irish song I like and I understand there meanies "Men Behind The Wire", "Broad Black Brimmer"," The Foggy Dew","James Connolly" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and The Cranberries "Zombie".
Paddy1640. I believe that your answer hit the nail on the head: "(this is saying that if Ireland is coerced away from the Catholic Church, the heavens won't receive them - it has to do with the Protestant Reformation and England's penal laws....." it makes alot of sense. These Irish song I like and I understand there meanies "Men Behind The Wire", "Broad Black Brimmer"," The Foggy Dew","James Connolly" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and The Cranberries "Zombie".
Paddy1640,
Paddy1640,
Thank you for the explanation. I also honor my Irish ancestry, and agree that there is little if any "European-American" history taught in schools in the US. Sad to say, there'll never be clamor for an "Irish History Month"! Though I do respect the honor you have for your ancestors, and thus would not disparage them, please consider: During the incorrectly-dubbed "Civil War," the South (considerably Celtic in ancestry) fought for independence from the US government for the same reasons as our Colonists (including my ancestors) fought against King George: secession from a government deemed too powerful, abusive...
Thank you for the explanation. I also honor my Irish ancestry, and agree that there is little if any "European-American" history taught in schools in the US. Sad to say, there'll never be clamor for an "Irish History Month"! Though I do respect the honor you have for your ancestors, and thus would not disparage them, please consider: During the incorrectly-dubbed "Civil War," the South (considerably Celtic in ancestry) fought for independence from the US government for the same reasons as our Colonists (including my ancestors) fought against King George: secession from a government deemed too powerful, abusive and corrupt (if only they could have imagined the power and corruption of same 150 years later!). The irony is this: While the Irish have long been dominated and subjugated by the British Crown, and has fought for independence from same, Irish immigrants were pressed into Union service during the war of 1861-65 to SUPPRESS the South, and force the Southern states back into the Union. They were, in effect, doing the same work as the British in 1775, and the British Crown in Ireland and Scotland for hundreds of years. Invade, suppress, kill, burn, and force acceptance at the point of a bayonet. Simply put, while Thomas Francis Meager fought valiantly FOR Irish independence, he fought AGAINST Southern independence in leading the Irish Brigade. Of course, "history" proclaims the South wrong, just as the Irish and Scots were "wrong" from England's point of view. While the counter of "The South fought for slavery, and the North fought against it!" is the justification, it is a far cry from reality. The North (and the federal government) profited enormously from the Atlantic Slave Trade, and from the exportation of Southern slave-produced goods. Slavery could not have existed were it not by the blessing of the United States government. Northern merchants, bank and insurance firms were but a few of the entities who demanded their share of a lucrative pie. Then, as now, 98% of the wealth - North and South - was controlled by the 1-2% who held enormous wealth and power. Some 95% of Southerners owned NO slaves, and would not have left their homes and young families to "protect the property" of the wealthy. In fact, had slavery not existed in the South, the plantations would have been occupied by poor white farmers, eager for employment - even if such paid (no pun intended) meager "slave wages." There is irony in the North having "won" freedom and independence by fighting against it; the massive, out-of-control leviathan that the federal government is today has its origin not in the administration of George Washington, but in that of Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you for the history lesson. It always amazes me what the schools either don't or don't intentionally teach about slavery...Massachusettes led the states in the slave trade and if it were not for the factories of the north the cotton would not have required slaves to work the southern fields. When it comes to prejudice and racism, no man is without it. Some just hide it deeper than others. It's a great song, but I was more impressed with your lesson :) Thanks again.
Thank you for the history lesson. It always amazes me what the schools either don't or don't intentionally teach about slavery...Massachusettes led the states in the slave trade and if it were not for the factories of the north the cotton would not have required slaves to work the southern fields. When it comes to prejudice and racism, no man is without it. Some just hide it deeper than others. It's a great song, but I was more impressed with your lesson :) Thanks again.
@Paddy1640 hi and thx for your explanation, I just translated the lyrics into german. i wonder what "It's coming up threes, boys - Keeps coming up threes, boys" means? is it just like 1, 2, 3 or? thx. may be you are still out there in www.
@Paddy1640 hi and thx for your explanation, I just translated the lyrics into german. i wonder what "It's coming up threes, boys - Keeps coming up threes, boys" means? is it just like 1, 2, 3 or? thx. may be you are still out there in www.
@Paddy1640 my grandfather served on a ship in the War Between the States....he was 13. His brother died at the Battle of Antietam. This was the first war with a draft. Rich people could forego the draft by paying 300 dollars, the cost of shipping a starved Irishman to America to take the rich lad's place. I agree with your assessment of those who would look to the government to solve all their problems, especially during the fake Plandemic....so many lining up for the lethal shot
@Paddy1640 my grandfather served on a ship in the War Between the States....he was 13. His brother died at the Battle of Antietam. This was the first war with a draft. Rich people could forego the draft by paying 300 dollars, the cost of shipping a starved Irishman to America to take the rich lad's place. I agree with your assessment of those who would look to the government to solve all their problems, especially during the fake Plandemic....so many lining up for the lethal shot
@Paddy1640 my grandfather served on a ship in the War Between the States....he was 13. His brother died at the Battle of Antietam. This was the first war with a draft. Rich people could forego the draft by paying 300 dollars, the cost of shipping a starved Irishman to America to take the rich lad's place. I agree with your assessment of those who would look to the government to solve all their problems, especially during the fake Plandemic....so many lining up for the lethal shot
@Paddy1640 my grandfather served on a ship in the War Between the States....he was 13. His brother died at the Battle of Antietam. This was the first war with a draft. Rich people could forego the draft by paying 300 dollars, the cost of shipping a starved Irishman to America to take the rich lad's place. I agree with your assessment of those who would look to the government to solve all their problems, especially during the fake Plandemic....so many lining up for the lethal shot
@Paddy1640 Mostly right but not the part about slavery. The Irish were indentured servants not slaves. Before you say it is the same, it\'s not. They knew they would be freed after a set time whereas slaves were the owner\'s property forever. \r\nMy family went from Cavan to Canada in the 1840s thanks to another genocide.
@Paddy1640 Mostly right but not the part about slavery. The Irish were indentured servants not slaves. Before you say it is the same, it\'s not. They knew they would be freed after a set time whereas slaves were the owner\'s property forever. \r\nMy family went from Cavan to Canada in the 1840s thanks to another genocide.
@Paddy1640 interesting. I don’t take it exactly the same way. To me this song sound like a call to arms or a rallying song for battle. I don’t think it is about the Church. I think it is a pronouncement of willingness to act (potentially in violence) in spite of moral consequences (i.e. no entry into heaven).
@Paddy1640 interesting. I don’t take it exactly the same way. To me this song sound like a call to arms or a rallying song for battle. I don’t think it is about the Church. I think it is a pronouncement of willingness to act (potentially in violence) in spite of moral consequences (i.e. no entry into heaven).
May sound crazy but that’s what I hear.
May sound crazy but that’s what I hear.
@Paddy1640 loooooooool this is fuck all to do with the song
@Paddy1640 loooooooool this is fuck all to do with the song
brillant song.
One comment per year, it seems.
my favorite song by them.
amazing song...even better live...kind of says it all for me right now...falling from grace with god where no doc or anyone can save me...as the song says...."let me go boys, let me go boys, let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry....."
shane is the best writer of his time...drunken genious
I think a lot of people dismiss Shane as a serious talent because of his drunken reputation, and it's a real shame that journalists always seem more interested in his teeth than the history of his music or style of songwriting.
This is my first post on this site. Just wanted to say this is my favorite Pogues song and I think it's about as good as a song can get. Shane is one of the most underrated songwriters.
"Bury me at sea where no murdered ghost can haunt me..." Brrrrrr, goosebumps, he paints such vivid pictures with his words
i think the song has to do with the non-Celtic coming into the UK and setting up shop, there more meaning here
Thank you for the explanation I heard the song recently and really like. The explanation makes it that more enjoyable. But.... what does the line "Coming up Threes" refer to? Is this the old Irish belief that deaths come in threes?
It's based on an old nautical belief that someone who was drowning would float to the surface three times before they finally died and sank beneath the waves forever.
It's based on an old nautical belief that someone who was drowning would float to the surface three times before they finally died and sank beneath the waves forever.
I always read it as changing the focus of the song completely. Instead of merely being buried at sea, it would appear he wants to throw himself into the water in order to escape all the murdered ghosts and corpses weighing heavy on his conscience.
I always read it as changing the focus of the song completely. Instead of merely being buried at sea, it would appear he wants to throw himself into the water in order to escape all the murdered ghosts and corpses weighing heavy on his conscience.