Raised on songs and stories, heroes of renown

The passing tales and glories that once was Dublin town

Hallowed halls and houses, haunting childrens’ rhymes

That once was Dublin city in the Rare ould times.

Ring-a-ring-a-rosie

As the light declines

I remember Dublin city

In the rare old times.

Well my name it is Seán Dempsey, as Dublin as could be

Born hard and late in Pimlico in a house that used 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 Duignan, as pretty as you please

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

Now the years have made me bitter, the gargle dims my brain

‘Cos 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

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 am part of what was Dublin in the rare old times

Chorus