The Shankill Butchers ride tonight
You better shut your windows tight
They're sharpening their cleavers and their knives
And taking all their whiskey by the pint
The first stanza of the song it talks about how the Shankill Butchers are out driving and you need to stay inside. Also how they're sharpening their knives and getting drunk. The Shankill Butchers are a group that was apart of a Ulster loyalist gang in 1975 to 1982 and they are from Belfast from northern Ireland. They were known to go around and make sectarian attacks.
Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan
Everybody shake
The Shankill Butchers wanna catch you awake
In the second and third stanza it says how if you don't listen to your moms words then bad things will happen to you. And how you should get ready because the Shankill Butchers want to get you awake.
They used to be just like me and you
They used to be sweet little boys
But something went horribly askew
Now killing is their only source of joy
In the 4th stanza they're saying how they use to be normal sweet boys but something horrible happened to them in their childhood that killing is there only thing that makes them happy.
Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan
Everybody shake
The Shankill Butchers wanna catch you awake
In the 5th stanza and 6th it says how if you don't listen to your moms words then bad things will happen to you. And how you should get ready because the Shankill Butchers want to get you awake.
The Shankill Butchers on the rise
They're waiting 'til the dead of night
They're picking at their fingers with their knives
And wiping off their cleavers on their thighs
In the 7th stanza they're on the rise and waiting till the quietest time and darkest time to go out. The Shankill Butchers are anxious about going out and they're wiping their knives off on their thighs.
'Cause everybody knows
If you don't mind your mother's words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from your curls
Everybody moan
Everybody shake
The Shankill Butchers wanna catch you
The Shankill Butchers wanna cut you
The Shankill Butchers wanna catch you awake
Awake (x3)
Finally in the 8th and 9th stanza how if you don't listen to your moms words then bad things will happen to you. And how you should get ready because the Shankill Butchers want to get you awake so they can cut you.