Mary Coughlan Magdalen Laundry
For seventeen years I've been scrubbing this washboard
Ever since the fellas started in after me
My mother poor soul didn't know what to do
The Canon said 'Child there's a place for you'
Now I'm serving my time at the Magdalen Laundry
I'm toeing the line at the Magdalen Laundry
There's girls from the country, girls from the town
Their bony white elbows going up and down
The Reverend Mother as she glides through the place
A tight little smile on the side of her face
She's running the show at the Magdalen Laundry
She's got nowhere to go but the Magdalen Laundry
Ooh Lord won't you let me
Don't you let me
Won't you let me wash away the stain
Ooh Lord won't you let me wash away the stain
I'm washing altar linen and cassocks and stoles
I'm scrubbing long Johns for these holy Joes
We know where they've been when they're not saving souls
What the red wine spilt what the smooth hand poured
We're squeezing it out at the Magdalen Laundry
We're scrubbing it out at the Magdalen Laundry
Ooh Lord won't you let me
Don't you let me
Won't you let me wash away the stain
Ooh Lord won't you let me wash away the stain
Sunday afternoon while the Lord's at rest
It's off to the prom watch the waves roll by
We're chewing on our toffees, hear the seagulls squak
There go the Maggies the children talk
Through our faces they stare at the Magdalen Laundry
In our eyes see the glare of the Magdalen Laundry
Ooh Lord won't you let me
Don't you let me
Won't you let me wash away the stain
Ooh Lord won't you let me wash away the stain