The link above gives a slightly simplified chord pattern, which works quite well. But I much prefer the original which uses the Am as a passing tone in going down to the F. Give it a shot....


THE RARE OULD TIMES
Pete St. John
Lyrics as recorded by The Dublin City Ramblers on "Dublin City Ramblers Live" (2007)

verse:

  
 C   F C  Am   F   
  
 C   F C  G    G7  
  
 C   F C  Am   F  
  
 C   F C  G7   C  
  
  
chorus:  
 C    F C  Am   F  
  
 C    F C  G    C

1. 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 children's rhymes
That once was Dublin city in the rare ould times.

CHORUS: Ring-a-ring-a-rosie, as the light declines
I remember Dublin city in the rare ould times

2. My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as could 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. (G7)

3. 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 off to Birmingham, she took away my soul. (G7) CHORUS

4. The years have made me bitter; the gargle's dimmed me brain,
'Cause Dublin keeps on changing and nothing seems the same.
The Pillar and the Mets have gone, the Royal long since pulled down,
As the grey unyielding concrete makes a city of my town. CHORUS

5. 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. CHORUS TWICE