[Chorus:]
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

[Chorus]

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

[Chorus]

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
[Chorus]

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

[Chorus x2]