Based on songs and stories, heroes of renown
are the passing tales and glories, that once was Dublin town,
The hallowed halls and houses, the haunting children’s rhymes.
That once was part of Dublin, in the rare old times
Ring a ring a Rosie, as the light declines
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 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.
Ring a ring a Rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare old times
And I courted Peggy Dignan, as pretty as you please,
a rogue and child of Mary, from the rebel Liberties.
I lost her to a student chap, with skin as black as coal.
When he took her back to Birmingham, she took away my soul.
Ring a ring a Rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare old times
The years have made me bitter, the gargle dims my 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 great unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town.
Ring a ring a Rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare old times
Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay,
and watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the Quay.
My mind’s too full of memories, to old to hear new chimes,
I’m part of what was Dublin, in the rare old times.
Ring a ring a Rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare old times