Christy Moore – Lawless (Guitar)

Capo 1
Key
-

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Chords

[Verse 1]
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