whitechapel ladies
Oh won’t you come down with me Whitechapel ladies
Oh won’t you come down with me Whitechapel girls
It’s for Mary and Annie and Long Liz and Catherine
Mary Jane Kelly and all of their woes.
Oh when you go down to the streets of old London
The alleys, the rookeries, doss houses too
Remember us ladies who did it for pennies
And never no never for the love of you.
For gin or for crack, it really don’t matter
For gin or for crack we go out on the street
Then you come along and our lives are a splatter
Of blood and of gore as the nightmare’s complete.
It’s for Tania and Gemma, for Annette and Paula
For Anneli and all of their woes.
You ripped me apart like I was the Grand Canyon
You tore out my eyes and you pulled out my heart
You shoved my innards over my left shoulder
Then wading through my blood you had to depart.
It’s for Wilma and Emily, Irene, Patricia,
Jayne, Jean and Yvonne, Jacqueline, Josephine,
Barbara, Helen, Vera, Marguerite.
We sing for the pure girls the innocent maidens
The strong young women, noble and proud
The ones who are lost, oh the ones who were taken
They stand there behind you, all ghosts in a crowd.
It’s for Milly and Jessica, Holly and Suzy
And Rachel and Jill.
It’s all for your lust and its all for your cruelty
Cowards the lot of you, torturing maids.
You think you have the power to destroy their beauty
The wives and the harlots, the virgins, the babes.
Oh won’t you come down with me Whitechapel ladies
Oh won’t you come down with me Whitechapel girls
It’s for Jacqueline, Yvonne and Helen and Vera
For Jayne and Patricia and Jean.
You say you’re in hell and I hope you burn brightly
You say you’re in hell and I hope it takes time
So you’ll never forget us, the Whitechapel ladies,
And all of our sisters who rage in a line.
It’s for Tania and Gemma, for Annette and Paula
Anneli, Wilma, Emily, Irene,
Patricia, Jayne, Jean and Yvonne, Jacqueline, Josephine,
Barbara, Helen,
Vera, Marguerite, Milly and Jessica, Holly and Suzy
And Rachel and Jill. Mary and Annie and Long Liz and Catherine
Mary Jane Kelly and all of their woes.
Ann Foxglove
Mon 25th Jul 2011 11:08
The first part is a bit like the old folk tune Adeiu Spanish Ladies, which just popped into my head. The chorus is just a bit of a mess trying to fit in all the names. I wanted to pay tribute to some of the women murdered over the years, from Jack the Ripper victims, Yorkshire Ripper victims, the Soham girls, Suffolk Strangler victims, Milly Dowler, Jill Dando and Suzy Lamplugh. Thanks for your comment.