Here's a different version of the words and a question or two:
i. In these words, what does "danced the gear" mean?
ii. What is a "jowler bin"?

WHISKEY ON A SUNDAY
(Glyn Hughes)

1. He sat on the corner of Bevington Bush
Astride of an old packing case
And his three dolls would dance on the end of the plank
And he'd croon with a smile on his face

* Come day, go day
I wish in me heart it was Sunday
Drinking buttermilk all the week
Whiskey on a Sunday

2. His tired old hands tugged away at the strings
And the dolls, they danced the gear
It's a far better show than any I've seen
At the Pivvy or New Brighton Pier *

3. In nineteen-o-two old Seth Davy died
And his song is heard no more
His three dancing dolls in a jowler bin ended
And his plank went to mend some back door *

4. On some stormy nights down Scotty Road way
When the wind's blowin' up from the sea
You can still hear the song of old Seth Davy
As he croons to his dancing dolls three * *

Cheers
Ian HP