Come listen to me for a while
Me good friends one and all
And I`ll sing to you a verse or two
About a famous ball
Now the ball was given by some friends
Who lived down Ashe Street
In a certain house in the Liberties
Where the ragmen used to meet
Well the names were called at seven o`clock
And every man was on the spot
And to show respect for the management
Every ragman brought his mot
I must admit that I brought mine
At twenty five minutes to eight
And the first to stand up was Kieran Grace
For to tell me I was late
Then up jumps Humpy Soodelum
And he says I think somehow
By the ways are all going on tonight
Is a looking for a row
Now listen here Grace if you want your face
You`d better not shout or bawl
There`s a lot of hard chews gonna be here tonight
To respect the ragman`s ball
Well for eating we had plenty now
As much as we could hold
We drank Brady`s Loopline porter
Until round the floor we rolled
In the midst of all the confusion
Someone shouted for a song
When up jumps oul` John Lavin and sings
Keep rollin` your barrel along
Then says my one You`re quare one now
And Biddy you`re hard to beat
Oh when up jumps Liza Boland
And she told her to hold her prate
Then my one made a clout at her
She missed her and hit the wall
And the two of them went in the ambulance
The night of the Ragman`s ball
Then we all sat down to some ham parings
When everything was quiet
And for broken noses I must say
We had a lovely night
Black eyes they were in great demand
Not to mention split heads and all
So if anyone wants to commit suicide
Let them come to the Ragman`s ball