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DEAR MAGDALEN
Gary O’Driscoll © 1993
CHAPEAU ROUGE MUSIC (SOCAN)
News stories regarding the Magdalen Laundries first broke significantly in 1993, sparked by the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 155 women on the grounds of a Dublin convent. 80 of these woman were buried unidentified and with missing or non-existent death certificates.

Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, more than 40 laundries existed in Ireland. This included at least 19 in the Dublin area alone, 5 in Belfast, and various others distributed across major towns.

In total, historians estimate that upwards of 30,000 women passed through the Irish laundry system over its entire existence, enduring unpaid labor, severe confinement, and an institutional framework that frequently obscured their deaths from the public record.

It is estimated that over 2,000 of these woman died at these institutions. I wrote this song in 1993. This is the story of one of them. It is the first song in the MOTHER AND BABY TRILOGY - The Mother

[Verse 1]
In the City of Galway down by the sea,
I lay with a farm boy who said he loved me.
Nine short months later I was with child,
My farmer was harvesting, still running wild.

[Verse 2]
To the priest I did go, confessed my great sin,
For absolution, I must go with him.
To the Sisters of Charity, we went away,
My baby was born and stolen away.

[Chorus]
Sisters of Charity, please hear my prayer,
Bring back my baby, we'll go far from here.
"Bite your tongue little harlot! You are with sin!"
"Stay. Do our laundry,
Dear Magdalen."

[Verse 3]
They sent little Mary, to an orphanage school,
While I slaved away and worked like a fool.
The priest told my mother, "Its better you see!
She's safe with the Sisters of Charity."

[Chorus]
Sisters of Charity, please hear my prayer,
"Where is my daughter? Why must I stay here?"
And the Mother Superior came rushing in,
"Here's a basket of underthings,
Dear Magdalen."

[Verse 4]
Now I lie here surrounded by cold convent walls,
Rosaries echo in long empty halls.
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee."
I'll die with the Sisters of Charity.

[Verse 5]
She died in the laundry on Christmas Eve
No one was with her, no one to grieve
In a cold unmarked grave, she can no longer sin,
Good-bye! Rest in Peace!
Dear Magdalen.