 | 3 days and nights on this rattling train,
Light in the East and the moon on the wane,
But now the wheels drum slow - steam in the sidings.
The dazed and withdrawn - searched and sorted in the dawn.
Chilled to the bone - people standing in line,
Caked in the filth and the dirt and the grime.
At last a soldier smiles - we're soon for cleaning,
No tattoo - fold all your clothes and tie your shoes.
Smoke drifts softly in the breeze -
Slowly spirals through the trees.
Naked they crowd by the shower room door,
Hunched in the frost on the beech forest floor,
But Maria smiles - this child for cleaning,
Her mother stressed - "cleanliness is next to godliness".
At last the door opens wide and she's in,
It's strangely dark, strangely dry on her skin,
But then Maria smiles - the sunburst blinding,
And now Maria's clean - cleaner than she's ever been -
Yes, Maria's clean - cleaner than she's ever been.
Smoke lifts softly in the breeze -
Rising high above the trees.
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I was inspired to write "Maria's Clean" after visiting Auschwitz concentration camp last Easter. I had been intending to write a "Holocaust" song for some time and the atmosphere was very inspiring. Strangely enough, it was a beautiful, warm spring day with a cloudless sky - and, it's not true about there being no birdsong - quite the contrary. It is for this reason that "Maria's Clean" starts and finishes with blackbird calls.
"Maria's Clean" is intended as a tribute to the innocent men, women and, particularly, children who were persecuted and perished (and still continue to perish) through man's prejudice and inhumanity. Having said that, in the end, "Maria's Clean" is a song of hope and, maybe triumph?
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 February 2006 )
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Maria's Clean 
