Rare Ould Times Songtext

Rare Ould TimesRaised on songs and storiesthe heroes of reknownThe passing tales and gloriesthat once was Dublin-TownThat hallowed halls and houses,the haunting children´s rhymesThat once war Dublin Cityin the rare ould timesWell, me name it is Sean Dempsey,as Dublin as can beBorn hard and late in Pimlicoin a house that ceased to beBy trade I was a cooper,lost out to redundancyLike my house that fell to progressmy trade´s a memoryAnd I courted Peggy Dignan,as pretty as you pleaseA rogue and a child of Maryfrom the Rebel LibertiesI lost her to a student chapwith skin as black as coalWhen he took her off to Birmingham,she took away my soulThe years have made me bitter,the cargo dims me brain´Cause Dublin keeps on changingand nothing seems the sameThe Pillar and the Met have gone,the Royal long since pulled downAs the grey unyielding concretemakes a city of my townFare thee well sweet Anna Liffey,I can no longer stayAnd watch the new glass cagesthat spring up along the quayMe mind´s too full of memories,too old, to hear new chimesI´m a part of what was Dublinin the rare ould timesRing a ring a rosy as the light declinesI remember Dublin City in the rare ould times