He was Lawless by name and lawless by nature,
Trouble right from the start.
Hard as nails running wild thru the streets
He was breaking his poor mother’s heart.
Nature played a trick on Lawless
And the humour of nature is cruel.
He grew up as we all had expected
Into a dangerous fool
He was a hard man, a man for all seasons
He was always out for a fight
He could’nt hold drink but still he’d get plastered
In Clarkes every saturday night
He'd strip to his vest and challenge the best
’til the guards they were called to come fast
And they’d lock him away for the rest of the day
Leave him out on the sunday for mass
One night he went down to the Ringsend regatta
Where he met up with the bold Dolly Platts
She was’nt exactly what you’d call beauty
But she was the belle of our flats
A whirlwind romance and Dolly took a flier,
with Lawless she would settle down
'twas pure coincidence 3 months before
There was a Yankee destroyer in town
The couple were blessed with one of Gods miracles
Before 6 months had elapsed
Dolly gave birth to a 9 pound black baby
And Lawless was fit to collapse
She swore she’d never been touched by another
And Lawless took her at her word
And the neighbours exclaimed ”He’s the spit of his father-
And the cuckoo is a wonderful bird"
And now Lawless stays in and looks after the family
While Dolly goes out for the night
The auld gossips all say she's free in her ways
And their evil rumours ran rife
When Lawless heard this he waited for Dolly
On the bridge where the river runs low
And no-one will ever know what happened next
But Dolly drowned in the Dodder below.
And some say he's crazy and most say he’s evil
Everyone says that he’s mad.
No one will defend him, he was no angel,
But I’ll tell you he was’nt all bad.
They locked him away for the rest of his natural
Never again will he see.
Down the back of Ringsend theres a lonely child playin
Where the Liffey flows into the sea.