The Rare Oul' Times
Based on songs and stories, heroes of renown. Are 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 old times.
Chorus:
Ring a-ring a-Rosie, as the light declines, I
remember Dublin city in the rare oul' 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 Dignan, as pretty as you plese,
A 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.
Chorus!
The years have made me bitter, tha gargle dims my 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 great unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town.
Chorus!
Fare thee fell 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 old times.
Chorus!
