You can’t whack the stories
You hear on the quays
About galleys and pirates
And battles at sea
Donkey jackets
And shovelling coal
If a towns got no harbour
It hasn’t a soul
Let’s drink to a city
Bombs couldn’t kill
With barges and liners
To empty and fill
Here’s to the cattle boats
The crates and the sacks
Lanyards and gang planks
And breaking your back
You can’t whack the place
Where the ferries come in
Where porter is beer
And renaguing’s a sin
Or down by Poolbeg
For catching the fish
And watching the tankers
Go out by the Kish
And let’s drink to the city
Progress can’t kill
And drink to the ships
We still empty and fill
And here’s to containers
Twenty foot long
And drink to the cranes
And the bawdy sea songs
You can’t whack the place
Where the ferries come in
Where porter is beer
And renaguing’s a sin
Or down by Poolbeg
For catching the fish
And watching the tankers
Go out by the Kish