The Rare Old Times

Raised on songs and stories, heroes of renown

The passing tales and glories that once was Dublin town

The hallowed halls and houses, the haunting children's rhymes

That once was Dublin city in the rare ould times

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I'll remember Dublin city in the rare ould times

My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as could be

Born hard and late in Pimlico in a house that's ceased to be

By trade I was a cooper, lost out to redundancy

Like my house that fell to progress, my trade's a memory

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I'll remember Dublin city in the rare ould times

And I courted Peggy Dignan, as pretty as you please

A rogue, a child of Mary, from the rebel liberties

I lost her to a student chap with skin as black as coal

When he took her off to Birmingham, he took away my soul

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I'll remember Dublin city in the rare ould times

The years have made me bitter, the gargle's dimmed me brain

'Cause Dublin keeps on changing and nothing seems the same

The pillar and the net have gone, the Royal Domesday's pulled down

As the grey unyielding concrete makes a city of my town

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I'll remember Dublin city in the rare ould times

So fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay

To watch the new glass cages that spring up along Wood Quay

My mind's too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes

I'm a part of what was Dublin in the rare ould times

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I'll remember Dublin city in the rare ould times