Dublin In The Rare Old Times

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Raised on songs and stories, heroes of renown
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The passing tales and glories, that once was Dublin town
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The hallowed halls and houses, the haunting children's rhymes
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That once was part of Dublin in the rare old times.


(Chorus):
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Ring a-ring a-Rosie, as the light declines
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I remember Dublin city in the rare old times.


My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as can be
Born hard and 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 and child of Mary's, from the rebel Liberties.
I lost her to a student lad, 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, the drink has dimmed my brain, 
For Dublin keeps on changing, nothing stays the same.
The Metropol and the Pillar are gone, the Royal's been pulled down,
And the gray, unyielding concrete makes a city of my town.

So farewell Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay,
And watch the new glass cages, that rise along  the quay.
My mind's too full of memories, to want to hear new chimes,
I once was  part of Dublin, in the rare old times.

(Chorus)