He was Lawless by name, and lawless by nature
Trouble right from the start
Hard as nails, running wild in the streets
He was breaking his poor mother's heart
Nature played a trick upon Lawless
And the humor 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 bars every Saturday night
He'd strip to his vest and challenge the rest
Till the guards, they were called to come fast
And they'd lock him away for the rest of the day
Leave him out on a Sunday for mass
Well Lawless went down to the rings and regatta
Where he met 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 a flyer
With Lawless she would settle down
It was pure coincidence three months before
There was a yankee destroyer in town
The couple were blessed with one of God's miracles
When barely six months had elapsed
Dolly gave birth to a nine pound baby
And Lawless was fit to collapse
She swore that she'd never been touched by another
And Lawless took her at her word
And the neighbors all say he's the spit of his father
And the cuckoo's a wonderful bird
Now Lawless stays home and looks after the family
Dolly goes out for the night
And the gossips all say that she's free in her ways
And the rumors about her run rife
When Lawless heard this, he waited for Dolly
At the bridge where the river runs low
And no one will ever know what happened next
But Dolly drowned in the gutter below
Now some say he's foolish and more say he's crazy
And everyone says that he's mad
No one will defend him, he was no angel
But I tell you he wasn't all bad
They locked him away for the rest of his natural
Never again would he see
That at the back of ... there's a lonely child playing
Where the levee runs into the sea