In this version, it sounds like: "A rag for her ceiling"?

@@portcullis5622 Yep. Version I found wasn't so accurate.. Apologies.

@@seimiquinn No need to apologise. I am only guessing, as it sounds like "A rag for a ceiling" to me. I just listened to a live rendition by Lankum and it does sound like "Her head for a ceiling", so I am not sure.

@@seimiquinn My copy of the album just arrived. The lyric book says "A Rag for her ceiling', so it looks like Natalie changed the lyric from the Lankum original.

@@portcullis5622 Lucky you. Sounds like a great album. Enjoy.

The song is about a true story in Ireland in the 1800s. The Wrens of The Curragh were women who had mostly been orphaned during The Great Hunger and chose to live together in the plains of Kildare rather than a workhouse. They were a community that shared things and supported each other but due to restrictions on how women can earn a living back then some of them often used prostitution to provide for themselves but most knitted clothing to sell at markets . Some of the women were married to soldiers at the camp nearby but weren’t allowed to live with their husbands.The army barracks allowed the women to buy goods from their markets and gave them fresh water, they also were the main source for those using sex work. The nearby towns ostracized them. Religious groups used them as scapegoats. They were called The Wrens because they slept in hollows under furze bushes like the bird’s nest. Charles Dickens,among others, wrote about the women. The lyric about the “wren besting the eagle” comes from the story of birds competing to see who could fly highest. The eagle soared as high as he could but when he reached his limit the wren ,who was hidden in the eagle’s wing, launched off and won. Another thing to understand about this song is that in Ireland every December 26th is Wren Day when an effigy of The Wren is paraded through towns, songs are sung and feasts are made. “The Wren , The Wren, the King of All Birds! On St. Stephen’s Day got caught in the furze..”

@@BombaLuLu84 Thank you for taking the time to explain the background to the lyrics.

@@portcullis5622 You're Welcome❤

@@BombaLuLu84 that is A story thread in this song.

Donnellys Hollow also gets a mention in this song, where the famous fight took place in 1814, with the famous Irish boxer Dan Donnelly he had an arm that measured 3 foot long a useful weapon in boxing..When Dan Donnelly died and was buried grave robbers dug up his body and sold it to surgeons who cut off his arm and preserved it, the arm of Dan Donnelly is now preserved and is in a glass cage, I went to view it some years ago , gory but intetesting..Donnellys Hollow Co Kildare Ireland, where the most famous bare knuckle fight took place in 1848, now a tourist attraction. The story of Donnelly can be googled, as I'm in a hurry to get down to the pub for a few pinst of guinness and I have'nt time to spread the Irish history to ye all...Slainte