Though he was a gifted storyteller, it was only in 2006 that Ronnie Drew agreed that maybe he should put down his own story. But only if he could do it by himself, in his own words- there was no attempt to make his writing sound grand or high falutin'. Typical Ronnie. Ronnie started at the beginning, with a lively account of his pre-Dubliners life, and then wrote a sketch depicting the madness of life within the group. These were warm, witty and insightful chapters that made it clear that Ronnie Drew was a wonderful writer as well as a great singer and storyteller. Six months into the project, Ronnie was diagnosed with cancer. With the encouragement of his wife Deirdre and his family, he continued to think about the book and conducted a number of interviews to keep things ticking over until he was well enough to resume work on it. But sadly, much as he wanted to, Ronnie did not get to finish his story. However, with the whole-hearted co-operation of his daughter and son, Cliodhna and Phelim, it has been possible to put together Ronnie's work on his memoir along with his other writings, interviews with Cliodhna and Phelim, a wealth of photographs and other material from the family archive, and contributions from close friends, to create a book that is a wonderful portrait of, and a fitting and loving tribute to, the man Bono called 'the king of Ireland'.