Rare Ould Times Lyrics

Rare Ould Times lyrics

Raised on songs and stories  

 the heroes of reknown 

 The passing tales and glories  

 that once was Dublin-Town 

 That hallowed halls and houses,  

 the haunting children´s rhymes 

 That once war Dublin City  

 in the rare ould times 

  

 Well, me 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 please 

 A rogue and a 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 

  

 The years have made me bitter,  

 the cargo dims me 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 grey 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 

 Me 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 

  

 Ring a ring a rosy as the light declines 

 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times