Liverpool Lullaby

A touching lyric about a dysfunctional family

Author: Stan Kelly

Oh you are a mucky kid,
Dirty as a dustbin lid
When he finds out the things you did
You'll get a belt from your da 

Oh you have your father's nose
So crimson in the dark, it glows
If you're not asleep when the boozers close
You'll get a belt from your da 

You look so scruffy lying there
Strawberry jam tufts in your hair
Though in the world you haven't a care
And I have got so many 

It's quite a struggle everyday
Living on your father's pay
'cause the bugger drinks it all away
And leaves me without any 

Although we have no silver spoon
Better days are coming soon
Now Nellie's working at the Lune
And she gets paid on Friday 

Perhaps one day we'll have a bash
When Little ones provide the cash
We'll get a house in Knotty Ash
And buy your dad a brewery 

Oh you are a mucky kid,
Dirty as a dustbin lid
When he finds out the things you did
You'll get a belt from your da 

Oh you have your father's face
You're growing up a real hard case
But there's no one can take your place
Go fast asleep for Mammy

Don 't miss the subtext; the lyricist gets this right. The Mother portrays herself as the hapless victim, but she is as abusive, and "co-dependent." Such families are always tag teams. If she is a good mother, why is the child sent to sleep with "strawberry jam tufts in his hair"?

She calls him "mucky" and "dirty": her own responsibility. In other words, she is scapegoating--scapegoating him too for his father, insisting on improbable similarities. And she is leaning on him emotionally, expecting him, the child, to fix things fer her, the adult: "When Little ones provide the cash."

An insightful take.