The Rare Ould 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 childrens rhymes
 That once was Dublin City in the rare ould times

 Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines
 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times

 My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as can be
 Born hard and late in Pimlico, in a house that 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

 And I courted Peggy Dignam, as pretty as you please
 rogue and 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, she took away my soul

 Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines
 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times

 The years have made me bitter, the gargle dims me brain
 Cause Dublin keeps on changing, and nothing seems the same
 The Pillar and the Met have gone, the Royal long since pulled down
 As the grey unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town

 Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines
 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times

 Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay
 And watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the quay
 My mind's too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes
 I'm part of what was Dublin, in the rare ould times

 Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines
 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times

 Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines
 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould tim