Thanks to Jim Adams, for hosting Song Lyric Sunday. Head over to Jim’s site where you can find all the rules and future topics or prompt words. Have a look around, you can also find lots of other cool posts.
Today’s subject is Heaven/Hell and I’m going with the first song that came to mind, Hell Is For Children by Pat Benatar.
It was written by Pat Benatar, guitarist (and future husband) Neil Giraldo, and bassist Roger Capps. Pat Benatar started writing the song after reading about child abuse in the New York Times. She grew up in a very happy home, in a sheltered neighborhood, and had no idea that child abuse was so prevelant. She was so upset that she not only wrote the song, she also started a foundation to prevent child abuse, funded by publishing royalties from this song.
The song was included on her second studio album, Crimes Of Passion, which was released August 5, 1980. Although the song was never released as a single, it got a lot of airplay on FM Rock stations.
On a personal note, Pat Benatar has always been a favorite of mine. Pat Benatar was my first concert. If you’re interested, you can read about it here.
They cry in the dark
So you can’t see their tears
They hide in the light
So you can’t see their fears
Forgive and forget
All the while
Love and pain become one and the same
In the eyes of a wounded child
Because hell, hell is for children
And you know that their little lives can become such a mess
Hell, hell is for children
And you shouldn’t have to pay for your love
With your bones and your flesh
It’s all so confusing this brutal abusing
They blacken your eyes and then apologize
Be daddy’s good girl, and don’t tell mommy a thing
Be a good little boy, and you’ll get a new toy
Tell grandma you fell from the swing
Because hell, hell is for children
And you know that their little lives can become such a mess
Hell, hell is for children
And you shouldn’t have to pay for your love
With your bones and your flesh
No, hell is for children
Hell, hell is for hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for children
Hell, hell is for hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for children
Hell, hell is for hell
Hell is for hell
Hell is for children
Hell is for children
Hell is for children
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Do you have a favorite song that’s about Heaven or Hell? How about a favorite Pat Benatar song, or a concert memory? Thanks for hangin out!
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King Ben's Grandma 
Very sad song.
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It is very sad. No child should be hurt like that, especially by the people who are supposed to protect them!
I fear that lockdown stress may have caused an increase is child abuse and/or domestic violence.☹
I read one interview where she said she does this song at every performance. She wants to always support and never forget about all the children who suffer in “Hell”.
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You’re right that the incidents are on the rise. It’s great to spread awareness. Yet it breaks my heart.
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This is a sad song I haven’t heard before I either. I guess I would pick The Clash’s Straight to Hell. Or Sympathy for the Devil but Jane’s Addiction cover of it. Fun to think about!
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The song was never a major hit, and with all the new wave music, and Pat’s other singles, I’m not surprised you never heard it.
All of my friends played the hell out of the Crimes Of Passion record. There’s another song on the Album, ‘Wuthering Heights” that never got play, but I think it’s a good song. The whole album is good😂😂
Clash and Jane’s Addiction are excellent choices too.
Not gonna go the other way and pick “Heaven” by Bryan Adams??🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 yeah, me neither.
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Angie this is a wonderful Pat Benatar song and it really jams. I know that I am supposed to feel pain because of the sad lyrics, but the music is really great in this.
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Pat said in interviews that when she approached Neil with the lyrics, she asked him to make the music reflect the pain. She wanted it to build and explode. She’s a rockin gal! Itty-bitty with a powerful voice!🎶💃🏼
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Pat Benatar is wonderful artist and this is a touching way of her reaching into a painful part of the world. Thank you for sharing it. 🥀 Heaven by Bryan Adams is a favorite. And that one by Guns n Roses, Knockin on Heaven’s Door I think. 🎶
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I just dis’d Bryan Adams in another comment🤣🤣 Sorry. He’s not a favorite of mine, but I think I’m in the minority because that song is very popular.
G’n’R did a fabulous remake of Knockin In Heaven’s Door. I like it better than the Bob Dylan version.
🎶💃🏼💕
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All good 🤣🤣. Bob Dylan was an amazing song writer. So so many have re-recorded his music! 🎶💃🏼💕
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Pat oh Pat. That takes me back to my teenage days. This is a wonderful song. ❤️❤️❤️
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Way way waaaaay back when we were rockin out with our pet dinosaurs, right?!😉🎶💃🏼💌💌💌
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Oh yes. Cave life was fun.
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Here’s wishing you a great day Grandma and here’s some 70’s for your listening pleasure 🙂
https://aguycalledbloke.blog/2021/05/10/universal-greetings-71/
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Ah, Pat Benatar. I can’t think of her without thinking of Gail Alexo, my senior year crush in college. A relationship that was preceding nicely to the soundtrack of “Love is a Battlefield” until I crashed the whole thing with my awkwardness. The song Heartbreaker was a regular when I instructed my spin class. That song freaking ROCKS.
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Neil Giraldo doesn’t get enough credit! Fun fact about Pat Benatar: her video for You Better Run was the 2nd video played on MTV.
I wish I remembered more of the concert🙄🤦🏼♀️
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Interesting blog.
I loved Pat Benetar too, but never attended a concert of hers.
It’s mind blowing how many stories you hear about this sad topic. I can’t even write the words.
I love hearing that Pat donated proceeds from the song to help this mission.
Was thinking of you this morning and wondered how life is w King Ben.
Andrew texted me last night to say he’s coming by today to tell me something. Yikes. What now?
Hope your mothers day was nice. We hosted my family siblings, their kids ( and significant others), my mom her husband, and my boys. Whew! Lots of cooking, cleaning, but we all loved being together again. We weren’t allowed to get my dad. Bummer. But I will talk to his nurse today.
Hugs
Teri
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How nice to have everyone together. Too bad your dad couldn’t come, and too bad everyone didn’t do the cleanup for you.
We just had a regular day. Older worked Saturday night, so she slept, and younger had to work.🤷🏼♀️
We don’t really do “Days”.
Uh-oh indeed… what was the news from Andrew? I hope it was good. Or at least not bad.
💌💌
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He thinks his phone was hacked and people know his address. He will go and change passwords, etc.
Better news than I expected for sure!
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I’m not sure I could pick out a fave Pat Benatar song, but “Love Is a Battlefield” popped into my mind immediately, so we’ll go with that for now. (I’ll file an update later, once I’ve had more time to ponder. If I remember to do so.) Pat was hugely popular in my high school, with her music playing all the time.
Bit of trivia: The first time I heard “Hell Is for Children” (if memory serves) we were on a school bus headed back to Broken Arrow from OKC. Earlier that day, my friend Margaret and I had competed in a French competition at the University of Oklahoma, wherein we had performed a scene from the play “La Cantatrice Chauve” (“The Bald Soprano”). We had worked really hard on the scene prior to the competition, and we really thought we were going to do well. But I froze up smack in the middle of the scene, and although I eventually recovered and we finished, it was not pretty. Naturally, we did not win. Or even place.
On the gloomy bus ride home, Margaret popped a Pat cassette into her portable and fast forwarded to “Hell”. Even though the song had nothing to do with our situation, I knew what she was doing, trying to make me feel a little less crappy, and it was a perfect sad-happy moment…
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I have a Pat – school bus memory too. Since you prompted it, I’ll share it with you. Picture a dark interstate with a bus full of 6th graders returning from a trip to an amusement park (I can’t remember if it was 6 Flags Magic Mountain, or Knotts Berry Farm) the bus driver was cool and played the radio for us. Hit Me With Your Best Shot came on and the entire bus load of chattering tweens started singing along.
I have a drama story that had a choke moment, but we’ll save that for another time😉
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I have sent a dual email to you 🙂
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