The Badness

He was just four years old and his only crime
Was becoming an orphan at a premature time
Well life isn't fair but then who said it was
It was thought that a wiring fault was the cause
And only our hero and one sister survived
The fire at the house and so when he arrived
At the Christian Brothers industrial school
Christian Brothers were breaking the rules

And the badness was there for him to discover
It was a badness from which he may never recover
Badness that absolute power always brings
And Christian Brothers doing unchristian things

It's coming out now it's not coming too soon
While the whole world was watching man land on the moon
At the Christian Brothers industrial schools
Christian Brothers were breaking the rules
And in the land of the saints and the scholars so wise
The best thing it seemed was to keep him from eyes
Of a nation discovering prosperity fast
In between Sundays and going to mass

And the badness was there he was sure to discover
It was a badness from which he may never recover
Badness that absolute power always brings
And Christian Brothers doing unchristian things

And our hero was discovering a reality harsh
And sentenced to life in a jail without bars
And to the priests in confessionals we all had to tell
Of sins of impurity so we'd not burn in hell
And so graphic the detail they had to be fed
Was it alone or with someone or just in your head
And so caring were thy, they might even remind
You that such acts alone could make you go blind
And meanwhile our brothers in the Christian game
Were doing bad things it's best not to explain
Yes meanwhile our brothers only Christian in name
Were doing bad things it's best not to explain

And the badness was there he was soon to discover
It was a badness from which he may never recover
A Badness that absolute power always brings
And Christian Brothers doing unchristian things

Our hero had grown into a young boy of ten
And if things had been bad, he got much worse then
Add to abuse of the verbal and physical kind
His innocence lost, he left far behind
So he built up his walls and he lived in his head
And on his best days he wished he were dead
Cause he knew he was nothing and never would be
To complain would be futile and he just couldn't see
He endured while they scored their unchristian goals
And he cried out at night from the pain in his soul
Yes he endured while they scored, these unchristian ghouls
At the Christian Brothers industrial schools

And the badness was awful and hard to discover to discover
It was a badness from which he may never recover
Badness that absolute power always brings
And Christian Brothers doing unchristian things

break
Our hero survived and he left when he could
Keeping the secret that he was no good
And with such a big secret he let no one in
The badness on his soul like a tattoo of sin

And the badness was there and hard to discover
It was a badness from which he may never recover
Badness that absolute power always brings
And Christian Brothers doing unchristian things

In our national psyche complexes abounded
And the earliest whisperings seemed rumours unfounded
But slowly a picture began to emerge
And slowly our hero was filled with the urge
To shout from the rooftops of his tattooed soul
As the black and blue uniforms were losing control
And you know when he speaks that he's telling the truth
And though it won't alter or bring back his youth
It has to be better than keeping it in
Has to be better than a tattoo of sin
Yes It's got to be better than keeping it in
Got to be better than a tattoo of sin
Now the badness was out for all to discover
It was a badness from which he may never recover
Badness that absolute power always brings
And Christian Brothers doing unchristian things