the heroes of reknown
 The passing tales and glories
 that once was Dublin-Town
 That hallowed halls and houses,
 the haunting children?s rhymes
 That once war Dublin City
 in the rare ould times

 Well, me 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 Dignan,
 as pretty as you please
 A rogue and a 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,
 she took away my soul

 The years have made me bitter,
 the cargo 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

 Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey,
 I can no longer stay
 And watch the new glass cages
 that spring up along the quay
 Me 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

 Ring a ring a rosy as the light declines
 I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times