The Dubliners - Dublin In The Rare Old Times lyrics

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines
I'll remember Dublin city
In the rare ould times

Raised on songs & stories, heroes of renown
The passing tales & glories
That once was Dublin town
The hallowed halls & houses
The haunting childrens' rhymes
That once was Dublin city
In the rare ould times

My name it is Sean Dempsey
As Dublin as could be
Born hard & 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 & a child of Mary
From the rebel Liberties
I lost her to a student chap
With a skin as black as coal
When he took her off to Birmingham
She took away my soul

The years have made me bitter
The gargle dims me brain
Cause Dublin keeps on changing
& nothing seems the same
The Pillar & 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
& 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 a part of what was Dublin
In the rare ould times