The ballad of the 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 ?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 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 evil bids 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