The Rare Ould Times

<br>Raised on songs and stories, heroes of renown<br>The passing tales and glories that once was Dublin Town<br>The hallowed halls and houses, the haunting childrens rhymes<br>That once was Dublin City in the rare ould times<br><br>Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines<br>I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times<br><br>My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as can be<br>Born hard and late in Pimlico, in a house that ceased to be<br>By trade I was a cooper, lost out to redundancy<br>Like my house that fell to progress, my trade`s a memory<br><br>And I courted Peggy Dignam, as pretty as you please<br>A rogue and child of Mary, from the rebel Liberties<br>I lost her to a student chap, with skin as black as coal<br>When he took her off to Birmingham, she took away my soul<br><br>Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines<br>I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times<br><br>The years have made me bitter, the gargle dims me brain<br>Cause Dublin keeps on changing, and nothing seems the same<br>The Pillar and the Met have gone, the Royal long since pulled down<br>As the grey unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town<br><br>Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines<br>I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times<br><br>Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay<br>And watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the quay<br>My mind`s too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes<br>I`m part of what was Dublin, in the rare ould times<br><br>Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines<br>I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times<br><br>Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines<br>I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times