I Knew Danny Farrell - The Dubliners

I knew Danny Farrell when his football was a can

With his hand-me-downs and Welliers and his sandwiches

Of bran

But now that pavement peasant is a full grown bitter

Man

With all the trials and troubles of his travelling

People’s clan

He’s a loser, a boozer, a me and you user

A raider, a trader, a people police hater

So lonely and only, what you’d call a gurrier

Still now, Danny Farrell, he’s a man

I knew Danny Farrell when he joined the National School

He was lousy at the Gaelic, they’d call him amadn — a

Fool

He was brilliant in the toss school by trading objects

In the pawn

By the time he was an adult all his charming ways had

Gone

I knew Danny Farrell when we queued up for the dole

And he tried to hide the loss of pride that eats away

The soul

But mending pots and kettles is a trade lost in the

Past

«There's no hand-out here for tinkers» was the answer

When he asked

He’s a loser, a boozer, a me and you user

A raider, a trader, a people police hater

So lonely and only, what you’d call a gurrier

Still now, Danny Farrell, he’s a man

I still know Danny Farrell, saw him just there

Yesterday

Taking methylated spirits with some wino’s on the quay

Oh, he’s forty going on eighty, with his eyes of hope

Bereft

And he told me this for certain, there’s not many of us

Left

He’s a loser, a boozer, a me and you user

A raider, a trader, a people police hater

So lonely and only, what you’d call a gurrier

Still now, Danny Farrell, he’s a man