The Ballad Of Ronnie Drew

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 'in by twenties, we got 'in 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 budge 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 unclean

Where the streets all have names

Baggers, street masons, street wagons to Stevens

With lovers and loners who can hear all intoners

The goths and the ravers, invalids 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