He was Lawless by name, lawless by nature, he was trouble right from the start
Hard as nails, running wild through 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 couldn't hold drink but still he'd get plastered in Clark's every Saturday night
Strip to the vest and challenge the best until the guards they were called to come fast
And they'd lock him away for the rest of the day and let him out on the Sunday for a mass

Oh, one night he went down to the 'Ring's End Regatta' where he met up with the bold Dolly Platts
She wasn't exactly what you'd call beauty but she was the belle of our flats
A whirlwind romance and Dolly took the flier, with Lawless she would settle down
It was pure coincidence three months before, there was a yankee destroyer in town

And the couple were blessed with one of god's miracles before six months had elapsed
Dolly gave birth to a nine-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'

Oh, now Lawless stays in and looks after his baby while Dolly goes out for the night
The old gossips all say she's free in her ways and their evil rumours ran rife
When Lawless heard this he waited for Dolly in the bridge where the river runs low
No one will ever know what happened next but Dolly drowned in the Dodder below

Some say he's crazy and more 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 wasn't all bad
They've locked him away for the rest of his natural, never again will he see
Down the back of Ring's End there's a lonely child playing where the Liffey flows into the sea