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Hell's Ditch Lyrics
Life's a bitch, then you die
Black Hell
Hell's ditch - naked howling freedom
The killer's hands are bound with chains
At six o'clock it starts to rain
He'll never see the dawn again
Our lady of the flowers
Genet's feeling Ramon's dick
The guy in the bunk above gets sick
In the cell next door the lunatic
Starts screaming for his mother
Black dildo, black hell,
As the Spanish cops ridiculed my gel
A mugshot I remember well
Little man how you have suffered
I could hear the screams from up above
If it ain't a fist it isn't love
As for our lady she kneels down
Her neck is bent, the blade comes down
Doing! There goes the breakfast bell
Back from heaven, back to hell
Naked howling freedom - Hell's Ditch
Black Hell
Hell's ditch - naked howling freedom
The killer's hands are bound with chains
At six o'clock it starts to rain
He'll never see the dawn again
Our lady of the flowers
The guy in the bunk above gets sick
In the cell next door the lunatic
Starts screaming for his mother
As the Spanish cops ridiculed my gel
A mugshot I remember well
Little man how you have suffered
If it ain't a fist it isn't love
As for our lady she kneels down
Her neck is bent, the blade comes down
Doing! There goes the breakfast bell
Back from heaven, back to hell
Naked howling freedom - Hell's Ditch
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It is a representation of hell.
Genet is referring to Jean Genet. The "Our Lady of the Flowers" line is one of his books. I can't figure out who Ramon is though.
"Our Lady of the Flowers" isn't a line, it's the title of Genet's first novel. The song is entirely based on it.
"Our Lady of the Flowers" isn't a line, it's the title of Genet's first novel. The song is entirely based on it.
This song is about prison. Come on.
Ramon is most likely Ramón Gómez de le Serna (generally shortened to Ramon in popular culture). Although Ramon was an influential modernist poet, his aversion to social commentary and lack of activism during the Spanish Civil War has at times been used against him. Seeing as Jean Genet was such an avid activist, MacGowan writes with irony when he refers to Genet jerking off a person he quite probably wouldn't respect on a political level. The fact that Genet is reduced to this form of entertainment is an example of dehumanisation, which appears to be the thematic motif of this song. And yes, the song is about prison. But then again, isn't prison the epitome of dehumanisation?
@NellieWhiskey Thank you for the summary. I didnt know any of that. I only know Shane MacGowan is on par with Brendan Behan with what he said in songs when he was lucid. It's been a long goodbye.
@NellieWhiskey Thank you for the summary. I didnt know any of that. I only know Shane MacGowan is on par with Brendan Behan with what he said in songs when he was lucid. It's been a long goodbye.
Hell's Ditch is a dark poem of Shane's set to killer music from Jem Finer. Shane was an epic lyricist in his day, this song excluded. I miss the late 80's Pogues.