Thank You for Hearing Me: The Definitive Sinéad O'Connor Discography

The Definitive Sinéad O'Connor Discography

Discography*Songs*Artists*Credits

“The Ballad of Ronnie Drew”

by U2, The Dubliners, Kíla, and a Band of Bowsies

Composed by Robert Hunter/Bono/The Edge/Simon Carmody/U2/The Dubliners/Kíla

(Source: The Ballad of Ronnie Drew)

2 versions

4:53

“The Ballad of Ronnie Drew” single

4:54

video version

“The Ballad of Ronnie Drew” single

Lyrics

(Source: as heard)

Bono:
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.
A Band of Bowsies:
Hey, hey!
A Band of Bowsies (including Sinéad):
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.
Shane MacGowan:
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.
Christy Moore:
Get up and go at it, five until five.
When the whistle says beat 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.
A Band of Bowsies (including Sinéad):
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.
Bono:
The dawn and the dust, the wise, the unjust,
Kids in gambling games.
The unheard, the unseen, the unwashed and the clean,
Where the streets all have names:
Baggot Street, Leeson Street, right on to Stephens Street,
With lovers and loners who can hear all intoners,
The goths and the ravers, immigrants and traders,
Sing out Ronnie Drew.
Damien Dempsey:
An eye for an eye, 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.
Bono and ?:
Built you a statue on St. Stephen's Green,
No fairer monument e'er to be seen.
Bono and Sinéad:
The statue of Ronnie Drew holding the hand
Of a girl with her hair in a black velvet band.
A Band of Bowsies (including Sinéad):
Here's to you, Ronnie Drew.
(Bono)No stranger to devils or angels to tell.
Here's to you, Ronnie Drew.
(Bono)A friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend to you.
Ronnie Drew, (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.
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.

Notes

A large portion of the pantheon of Irish musical legends assembled for this charity song to raise money for Ronnie Drew, one of the lead singers of The Dubliners, who was dying of throat cancer. He finally succumbed to the disease on August 16, 2008, just 6 months after the single was released. Proceeds from the single went to The Irish Cancer Society, per Drew's wishes.

Produced by John Reynolds

(Source: The Ballad of Ronnie Drew)

Videos and Sound Clips

Musicians

(Source: The Ballad of Ronnie Drew)

Christy Moore vocals
Shane MacGowan vocals
Damien Dempsey vocals
Andrea Corr vocals
Sinéad O'Connor vocals
Moya Brennan vocals
Glen Hansard vocals
Billy McGuinness vocals
Brian Kennedy vocals
Bronagh Gallagher vocals
Chris DeBurgh vocals
Christy Dignam vocals
Duke Special vocals
Eleanor McEvoy vocals
Eleanor Shanley vocals
Gavin Friday vocals
Iona Green vocals
Jack L vocals
Jerry Fish vocals
Joe Elliott vocals
Mary Black vocals
Mary Coughlan vocals
Mik Pyro vocals
Mundy vocals
Paddy Casey vocals
Paul Brady vocals
Ronan Keating vocals
Source: The Ballad of Ronnie Drew
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