‘Cold Old Fire’ by Lynched, a Dublin-based folk group, was written after the financial crisis in Ireland that would end up sending 80,000 people a year overseas. ‘The Button Factory’ refers to the main Dublin dole office. See also Poets, Presidents and Politics.
We always sing, even when were losing
‘Cos Dublin’s drone is hard enough especially when you’re down and you’re boozing
We sing the Oul’ Triangle and then the Tommy Ryan
‘Cos all the world’s a jail and we can’t remember why
Why we agreed to live and lie in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we’re cattle at the stall
We look for signs that Dublin’s heart’s still beating,
That concrete and glass and peelers and mass, they haven’t stopped the people from screaming,
Being trapped by all the cameras you’re inclined to stay at home,
And forget some songs were written to remind you you weren’t born
Born to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we’re cattle at the stall
We see the cracks under the foundation,
Smouldering on the faces of the people on the drip of isolation,
We hear the sounds come streaming across the crackling air,
The broken words of swine who would tell us that we were
Born to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, were cattle at the stall
And when did we agree to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers?
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we’re cattle at the stall.
from Cold Old Fire, released May 25, 2014
Composed by Cian Lawless and Lynched.
