Karyn Oliver: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

This song started as a very personal reflection, but it has a life all it's own now. People seem to have very strong emotional reactions to this song, for better or worse. Make of that what you will.

I’d tear down the bells of St. Mary’s
Just to prove they would fall
Melt them all down ‘til they make no more sound
But it wouldn’t do no good at all

For there are no bells at St. Mary’s
No colorful windows, no stone
Just a cinderblock wall where my head felt the fall
And the rest of me just felt alone

There is no God here

What did we learn at St. Mary’s
Other than violence and shame
Just to keep our heads down and quake at the sound
Of Mother calling our names

Though we have all left St. Mary’s
We carry her with us the same
She’s the tears we don’t share when the scars are too clear
The place where we lay all the blame

There is no God here

My dreams drag me back to St. Mary’s
Where I lay with my ear to the ground
I wait for the fall of her feet down the hall
And pray God will burn the place down

There is no God here