The Dubliners—Dublin in the Rare Old Times

[Chorus:]

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I'll remember Dublin city, in the rare ould times

Raised on songs & stories, heroes of renown

The passing tales & glories, that once was Dublin town

The hallowed halls & houses, the haunting childrens' rhymes

That once was Dublin city, in the rare ould times

[Chorus]

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

Born hard & 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

& 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 a skin as black as coal

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

[Chorus]

The years have made me bitter, the gargle dims me brain

Cause Dublin keeps on changing, & nothing seems the same

The Pillar & the Met have gone, the Royal long since pulled down

As the grey unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town

[Chorus]

Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay

& 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 a part of what was Dublin, in the rare ould times

[Chorus x2]