HIVE Open Mic - Week 22 - Dublin In The Rare Old Times

Hey Open Mic Family

Death....and rebirth...

Powerful and timely themes this week.

Im starting this new channel which will focus on all things of a Celtic nature.Scots/Irish folk music,folklore and exploration will be my focus going forward.

So for this week I want to sing a song that has quickly became my favorite song to sing.

Its called Dublin In The Rare Old Times and it was written by Pete St. John in the 1970s for the Dublin City Ramblers.

I saw a video of Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners playing it a while back and thought I should add it to my fast growing collection of Dubliners songs.

This one has the theme of reminiscence and retrospection about old ways of life dying and fading out to give way to progress.

I have edited the song to archival footage of Dublin Ireland in the eras ranging from 1935 through to 1970 in a effort to portray old Ireland's transition from centuries old ways of life to modern times.

"Dublin in The Rare Old Times"
Pete St John

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 Dublin city 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

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 a skin as black as coal
When he took her off 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 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 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, too old to hear new chimes
I'm a part of what was Dublin in the rare ould times

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare old times

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare old times