The Blanket

[Intro]
Last fall after we were in Germany
My brother and I did a concert on the way home in Northern Ireland
In the town of Derry (Alright!)
And uh, at that point the, uh, first one of these recent hunger strikes was on
And it was, that was the one that they called off in time
Um, the place was pretty much of a powder keg at that point
That's what this song is about
This is called "The Blanket"
It's done from a metaphorical point of view of, um
A father waiting for his child to be born
Prisoners in the H-Block prisons are on what thеy call a blanket protest
They drеss just in a blanket
And at that point everyone was waiting for them to carry the first one out
Wrapped in a blanket

[Verse 1]
And life begins and life it ends
All on this night of winter's woe
Hanging to their sacred pain
The sisters scurry to and fro
And I await the child who's born
Wait to hold his blanket form
I can hear his painful cries
Deep inside where I cannot go

[Chorus]
Have you seen the child I'll hold
Blanketed against the cold?
Leaving by that very door
Only a fool could ask for more
Can you please make his cries be heard and
Kill his hunger with peaceful words?

[Verse 2]
Outside the walls the winter falls
Blanketing the countryside
The poor stay poor and the rich they hide
The poor have children and the rich preside
And Willie, he taunts me when he's juiced
That I am the father of his child
I toss and turn the moral loose
Am I alone in pacing these halls?

[Chorus]
Have you seen the child I'll hold
Blanketed against the cold?
Leaving by that very door
Only a fool could ask for more
Can you please make his cries be heard and
Kill his hunger with peaceful words?

[Verse 3]
And what shall I name this child of mine?
Be it Connor or Brian or Bridget divine
His former life a secret now
Be it criminal or saint with sacred vow
And these banal forms of colonial pride
Though naked we came from the maker
We'll dress him in what clothes he likes
And lower him in his cradle

[Chorus]
Have you seen the child I'll hold
Blanketed against the cold?
Leaving by that very door
Only a fool could ask for more
Can you please make his cries be heard and
Kill his hunger with peaceful words?