The song uses the music from the Irish folk song “She Moved Through the Fair”, but has completely different words.
Jim Kerr recalled in 1000 UK Number 1 Hits why he used the melody, “I first heard the melody (of She Moved Through The Fair) a few days after the Enniskillen bombing (when a bomb plant...
When my love said to me
Meet me down by the gallow tree
For it's sad news I bring
About this old town and all that it's offering
Some say troubles abound
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down
One day we'll return here
When the Belfast Child sings again
Brothers, sisters, where are you now?
As I look for you right through the crowd
All my life here I've spent
With my faith in God the Church and the Government
But there's sadness abound
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down
One day we'll return here
When the Belfast Child sings again
When the Belfast Child sings again
So come back Billy, won't you come on home?
Come back Mary, you've been away so long
The streets are empty, and your mother's gone
The girls are crying, it's been oh so long
And your father's calling, come on home
Won't you come on home, won't you come on home?
Come back people, you've been gone a while
And the war is raging, through the Emerald Isle
That's flesh and blood man, that's flesh and blood
All the girls are crying but all's not lost
The streets are empty, the streets are cold
Won't you come on home, won't you come on home?
The streets are empty
Life goes on
One day we'll return here
When the Belfast Child sings again
When the Belfast Child sings again
Belfast Child was written by Michael MacNeil & Charlie Burchill & Jim Kerr & Traditional.
Belfast Child was produced by Stephen Lipson & Trevor Horn.
Simple Minds released Belfast Child on Mon May 08 1989.