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The little girl she said to me
What are these things that I can see
Each night when I come home from school
And mama calls me in for tea
Oh every night a baby dies
And every night a mama cries
What makes those men do what they do
To make that person black and blue
Grandpa says their happy now
They sit with God in paradise
With angels' wings and still somehow
It makes me feel like ice
Tell me there's a heaven
Tell me that it's true
Tell me there's a reason
Why I'm seeing what I do
Tell me there's a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they're all happy now
Papa tell me that it's so
So do I tell her that it's true
That there's a place for me and you
Where hungry children smile and say
We wouldn't have no other way
That every painful crack of bones
Is a step along the way
Every wrong done is a game plan
To that great and joyful day
And I'm looking at the father and the son
And I'm looking at the mother and the daughter
And I'm watching them in tears of pain
And I'm watching them suffer
Don't tell that little girl
Tell me
Tell me there's a heaven
Tell me that it's true
Tell me there's a reason
Why I'm seeing what I do
Tell me there's a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they're all happy now
Papa tell me that it's so
What are these things that I can see
Each night when I come home from school
And mama calls me in for tea
Oh every night a baby dies
And every night a mama cries
What makes those men do what they do
To make that person black and blue
Grandpa says their happy now
They sit with God in paradise
With angels' wings and still somehow
It makes me feel like ice
Tell me there's a heaven
Tell me that it's true
Tell me there's a reason
Why I'm seeing what I do
Tell me there's a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they're all happy now
Papa tell me that it's so
So do I tell her that it's true
That there's a place for me and you
Where hungry children smile and say
We wouldn't have no other way
That every painful crack of bones
Is a step along the way
Every wrong done is a game plan
To that great and joyful day
And I'm looking at the father and the son
And I'm looking at the mother and the daughter
And I'm watching them in tears of pain
And I'm watching them suffer
Don't tell that little girl
Tell me
Tell me there's a heaven
Tell me that it's true
Tell me there's a reason
Why I'm seeing what I do
Tell me there's a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they're all happy now
Papa tell me that it's so
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It's about a man who, like the 'little girl' (his daughter?), is appalled by man's cruelty. Both the little girl and the man desperately need to believe that the suffering is part of an overall plan for eternal happiness for all of us. But whereas the little girl will accept that there's a heaven, if Grandpa tells her that it's true, the man knows that it's probably not true, and desperately wishes he could believe it ('don't tell that little girl, tell me').
Line 9 ("Grandpa says....") sends chills down my spine. What a brilliant song.
> What makes those men do what they do
> To make that person black and blue
Domestic violence?
The little girl comes home from school and see's war and starvation on the television and can't understand it all. She asks her father why people do this to each other, whilst grampa says not to worry about it - they are in heaven now where nobody can hurt them.
The father is then tied whether he should tell his daughter (the little girl) that what grampa says is correct and that "there's a place for me and you", and that everything that happens is part of some master plan - "to that great and joyful day".
In the last but one verse it comes back around to the father himself doubting whether it is true. He is watching the suffering and wondering himself what it is all for - "don't tell that little girl, tell me"
That's my interpretation. Great song!