Foreword: In my opinion this is one of the key songs of Christy Moore's career epitomizing his pursuit of social justice and courage to speak out about issues of the day. This tells the story of the Star Dust nightclub tragedy of 14/2/1981 and the subsequent injustice and questionable impartiality of the legal system, the sham enquiry that without evidence exonerated the owners from wrongdoing by blaming probable cause as arson (yes it was found to be probably the victims fault for burning themselves alive), and saving the insurer a vast fortune on compensating the 48 deaths and 215 seriously injured; and the owners untested for negligence in the safe storage of chemicals, the chaining of fire exits and the boarding up windows with steel plates This song was played non stop in 1985 for 10 weeks (wearing out cassette tapes and CDs) in protest of a new niteclub being built on the same site with the insurance payout, while the victims were thrown to the gutter and 3 decades later justice had not been served. The Government of the day, the supposed representatives of the people sued Christy Moore for libel and forced his Ordinary Man album to be recalled, making the few copies out there quite rare. Many younger people in Ireland are not aware of this song due to it being banned from the airwaves in the republic. Time Signature 3/4 This is just my version and is not an attempt to be an exact copy of Christy's work Chords (use these if there is any conflict with the automated diagrams) C x32010 G 320033 F xx3211 picking pattern is base note then 2 plucks of 3 strings as tabbed below. then at the end of the sentences a single strum for 2 bars (the extra bar on every 2nd line)

^Gxxxxxx ^Cxxxxxx ^Fxx1x1x xx3x3x xx1x1x xx2x2x xx0x0x xx0x0x xx3x3x xx0x0x xx2x2x 0xxxxx xxxxxx 3xxxxx xxxxxx 3xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx

or just by string numbers if you dont understand tab yet

^G6, 432, 432 ^C5, 432, 432 ^F4, 321, 321

VERSES C C G C C C F G G C C F C C C G C C F F C C C C F G G C C F C C C G C C CHORUS F F C C C C F G G C C F C C C G C C most notable memory aids are: 2nd half of verse and chorus are same chords, 2nd third and 4th lines of each section the same VERSE 1

St. ^CVal-en-tine's ^Cday comes a-^Ground once a ^Cyear, our ^Cthought turn to ^Clove as the ^Fday it draws ^Gnear, ^G When ^Csweet-hearts and ^Cdar-lings, ^Fhus-bands and ^Cwives, Pledge ^Clove and de-^Cvo-tion for.the ^Grest of their ^Clives ^C As ^Fday turns to ^Feven-ing soon ^Cnight-time does ^Cfall, Young ^Cpeo-ple get ^Cready for the ^FVal-en-tine's ^GBall, ^G As the ^Cnight rings with ^Claugh-ter some ^Fpeo-ple still ^Cmourn The ^Cfor-ty eight ^Cchil-dren who ^Gne-ver came ^Chome ^C

CHORUS

^FHave we for-^Fgot-ten the ^Csuff-ering and ^Cpain the sur-^Cviv-ors and ^Cvic-tims of.the ^Ffire in Ar-^Gtane, ^G the ^Cmoth-ers and ^Cfath-ers for-^Fever to ^Cmourn the ^Cfor-ty eight ^Cchil-dren who ^Gne-ver came ^Chome. ^C

VERSE 2

it's ^Cdown to the ^CStar-dust they ^Gall made their ^Cway The ^Cboun-cers looked ^Con as they ^Flined up to ^Gpay ^G The ^Crec-ords are ^Cspin-ning there's ^Fdan-cing as ^Cwell Just ^Chow the fire ^Cstart-ed sure ^Gno one can ^Ctell. ^C In.a ^Fmat-ter of ^Fsec-onds con-^Cfus-ion did ^Creign The ^Croom was in ^Cdark-ness fire ^Fex-its were ^Gchained^G The ^Cfire-fight-ers ^Cwept for ^Fthey could not ^Chide, Their ^Csorr-ow and ^Can-ger for ^Gthose left in-^Cside. ^C

CHORUS VERSE 3

All a-^Cround the ^Ccity the ^Gbad news it ^Cspread There's a ^Cfire in the ^CStar-dust there's ^Ffor-ty eight ^Gdead ^G ^CHun-dreds of ^Cchil-dren are ^Fin-jured and ^Cmaimed And ^Call just be-^Ccause the fire ^Gex-its were ^Cchained.^C Our ^Flead-ers were ^Fshocked, grim ^Cstate-ments were ^Cmade They shed ^Ctears by the ^Cgraves as.the ^Fbo-dies were ^Glaid ^G The ^Cvic-tims have ^Cwait-ed in ^Fvain for four ^Cyears It ^Cseems like our ^Clead-ers shed ^Gcroc-o-dile ^Ctears.^C

CHORUS VERSE 4

Half a ^Cmill-ion was ^Cspent on so-^Glic-itor's ^Cfees, A ^Cfor-tune to.the ^Cow-ner and ^Fhis fa-mil-^Gy ^G It's ^Chard to be-^Clieve not ^Fone pen-ny ^Ccame To the ^Cwork-ing class ^Cpeo-ple who ^Gsuff-ered the ^Cpain. ^C ^FDays turn to ^Fweeks and ^Cweeks turn to ^Cyears Our laws ^Cfav-our the ^Crich or ^Fso it app-^Gears ^G A ^Cwo-man still ^Cwaits for her ^Fkids to come ^Chome In-^Cjus-tice breeds ^Can-ger and ^Gthat's what's been ^Cdone. ^C

CHORUS

Christy Moore - They never came home