The loss of urban innocence

Source: famoushostels.com

There are many finely crafted songs and complete records that have been written about cities and towns, both specific to a particular community and in general. Some may note the dynamic vibrancy of the city, such as “New York, New York” (Frank Sinatra) or “Galveston,” (Glen Campbell), its romanticism such as “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (Tony Bennett), or perhaps the city’s economic distress like “Allentown” (Billy Joel). One of the more recent examples is the superb album entitled The Suburbs by Canada’s alternative/indie band, Arcade Fire that won the Grammy for album of the year in 2011.

Source: tcd.ie

However, to this blogger, no song heard to date about a city seems to capture the loss of a city’s innocence as it transitions from a regional or national center of commerce to a world-class city as the song “Dublin In the Rare Old (or Ould) Times.” Below are lyrics to this classic by Pete St. John. One can easily picture his thoughts while reading the lyrics and/or hearing the song being performed. It is really quite heartbreaking – an ode to love lost – both personal and communal. The song also begs the question, ‘Is demolishing a community’s past truly ‘progress?’  I would tend to say that in most cases, no, it is not progress. Instead, it is all too often an unfortunate step in the wrong direction.

 The Rare Ould 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 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, 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 the quay
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.”