Tribute to a great Dubliner

Dublin Town in the rare ould time


Raised on songs & stories, heroes of re-known

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
Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines

I remember Dublin city in the rare ould times

My name it is Sean Demspey, as Dublin as can be

Born hard & 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
& 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 my brain

'Cause Dublin keeps on changing & nothing stays the same

The Pillar & 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

& 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 part of what was Dublin in the rare ould times