Raised on songs and stories, heroes of renown   The passing tales and glories that once was Dublin Town   The hallowed halls and houses, the haunting childrens rhymes   That once was part of Dublin in the rare ould times         Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines   I remember Dublin City in the rare ould 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      And I courted Peggy Dignam, 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 off to Birmingham, well she took away my soul      Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines   I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times      The years have made me bitter, the gargle 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      Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines   I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times      Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay   And watch the new glass cages, that spring up along decay   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      Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines   I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times      Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines   I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times   I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times