The Ballad Of Ronnie Drew (with The Dubliners, Kíla, A Band of Bowsies)
Here's to the Ronnie, the voice we adore Like coals from a coal bucket scraping the floor Sing out his praises in music and malt And if you're not Irish, that isn't your fault
Raise up our voices like dogs in a pack Thankful for honest men we never lack We got 'em by twenties, we got 'em by ones Them and their daughters and all of their sons
Here's to you, Ronnie Drew Here's to you, Ronnie Drew Ronnie Drew, we love you, yes we do Here's to you, Ronnie Drew, here's to you
And what's it to any man whether or no' Whether I'm easy or whether I'm true As I lifted her petticoat easy and slow And I tied up me sleeve for to buckle her shoe
Get up and go at it, five until five When the whistle says beat it we come back alive He'll sing to the heavens, he's stormy as hell And wherever he goes, we'll be wishing him well
Here's to you, Ronnie Drew Here's to you, Ronnie Drew Ronnie Drew, we love you, yes we do Here's to you, Ronnie Drew, here's to you
The dawn and the dust, the wise, the unjust Kids in gambling games The unheard, the unseen, the unwashed and the clean Where the streets all have names Baggot Street, Leeson Street, right on to Stephen's Green With lovers and loners who can hear all intoners The goths and the ravers, immigrants and traders Sing out Ronnie Drew
A life for a life or a hand for a hand Trust in the music and strike up the band The more that we sing the less that we fight Time and again this is proved to be right
Build you a statue on St. Stephen's Green No fairer monument ere to be seen The statue of Ronnie Drew holding the hand Of a girl with her hair in a black velvet band
Here's to you, Ronnie Drew No stranger to devils or angles to tell Here's to you, Ronnie Drew A friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend to you Ronnie Drew, we love you, yes we do Here's to you, Ronnie Drew, here's to you Here's to you, Ronnie Drew, here's to you, Ronnie Drew Here's to you, Ronnie Drew, here's to you, Ronnie Drew
And what's it to any man whether or no' Whether I'm easy or whether I'm true As I lifted her petticoat easy and slow And I rolled up me sleeve for to buckle her shoe