The Ladder's Bottom Rung

He offered money for her body
Good money that's for sure
Over fifteen hundred
Is a hard price to ignore

Her kids were looking hungry
Their mouths on either or
The fridge was running empty
But she showed that cock the door

When the village church burnt down that day
Still that choir they sung
The strange moral fibre of the ladder's bottom rung
Holding hymn books to their holy chest
To every word they clung
That strange moral fibre of the ladder's bottom rung

From the bustling bazaars of Istanbul
To the curios of Kilkenny
The folk you learn to trust the most
Are the folk with hardly any

He had his work van to tax
And a tiny flat to heat
The car door it was open
And the handbag on the seat

But he got back on his bicycle
And he pushed off with his feet
He thought temptation serves a purpose
It makes poverty complete

When the village church burnt down that day
Still that choir they sung
The strange moral fibre of the ladder's bottom rung
Holding hymn books to their holy chest
To every word they clung
That strange moral fibre of the ladder's bottom rung

From the bustling bazaars of Istanbul
To the curios of Kilkenny
The folk you learn to trust the most
Are the folk with hardly any

It's more what Goliath did or said
And not what David slung
That acts as inspiration to
The ladder's bottom rung

The dance troop they all broke a leg
The choir all bust a lung
Hanging to the fibres of
The ladder's bottom rung

Working in hell's kitchen
With a racist and a knife
Lured here on a promise
Of a better way of life

Where compromise is necessary
Humiliation's rife
The strange moral fibre of the ladder's bottom rung