Lawless

G                       C          G
He was Lawless by name, Lawless by nature
G              D              G      G
He was trouble right from the start
Am                     D
Hard as nails, runnin' wild through the streets
G                                 D
He was breakin' his poor mother's heart
Am              D
Nature played a trick on Lawless
G                           D
And the humour of nature is cruel
G                    C       G
And he grew up as we all had expected him
G      D         G
Into a dangerous fool

[Verse 2]

G                    C           G
He was a hard man, a man for all seasons
G             D         G       G
He was always out for a fight
Am                         D
He couldn't hold drink but still he'd get plastered
G                         D
In Clark's every Saturday night
Am                    D
Strip to the vest and challenge the best
G                                         D
Until the guards they were called to come fast
G                                C           G
And they'd lock him away for the rest of the day
G                      D          G
And let him out on the Sunday for mass

[Verse 3]

G                               C         G
Oh one night he went down to the Ringsend Regatta
G                        D           G       G
Where he met up with the bould Dolly Platts
Am                 D
She wasn't exactly what you'd call beauty
G                            D
But she was the belle of her flats
Am                      D
A whirlwind romance and Dolly took a flier
G                D
With Lawless she would settle down
G                           C           G
And It was pure coincidence three months before
G                  D            G
There was a yankee destroyer in town

[Verse 4]

G                                C            G
And the couple were blessed with one of god's miracles
G          D          G       G
Before six months had elapsed
Am                    D
Dolly gave birth to a nine-pound black baby
G                      D
And Lawless was fit to collapse
Am                         D
She swore she'd never been touched by another
G                          D
And Lawless took her at her word
G                                     C           G
And the neighbours all say, she's the spit of her father
G                   D         G
and the cuckoo is a wonderful bird.'

[Verse 5]

G                            C               G
Oh now Lawless stays in and looks after the family
G                 D          G      G
While Dolly goes out for the night
Am                              D
The old gossips all say she's free in her ways
G                             D
And its there evil rumours run rife
Am                         D
When Lawless heard this he waited for Dolly
G                                  D
In the bridge where the river runs low
G                    C             G
Noone will ever know what happened next
G                        D      G
But Dolly drowned in the Dodder below

[Verse 6]

G                       C            G
Some say he's crazy and more say he's evil
G         D             G    G
Everyone says that he's mad
Am                     D
Noone will defend him, he was no angel
G                               D
But I'll tell you he wasn't all bad
Am                              D
They've locked him away for the rest of his natural
G                   D
Never again will he see
G
Down the back of Ring's End
          C            G
There's a lonely child playing
G                      D        G
Where the Liffey flows into the sea

{Outro}

G
Down the back of Ring's End
          C            G
There's a lonely child playing
G                      D        C   C C C C G
Where the Liffey flows into the sea