The Galway Races

As I rode down to Galway town to seek for recreation On the seventeenth of August me mind being elevated There were multitudes assembled with their tickets at the station Me eyes began to dazzle and I'm goin' to see the races. Chorus: With your whack-fa-the-da-for-the-diddle-ee-iddle-day. There were passengers from Limerick and passengers from Nenagh And passengers from Dublin and sportsmen from Tipperary There were passengers from Kerry, and all quarters of our nation And our member, Mr. Hearst, for to join the Galway Blazers. There were multitudes from Aran, and members from New Quay Shore Boys from Connemara and the Claire unmarried maidens There were people from Cork city who were loyal, true and faithful; Who brought home the Fenian prisoners from diverse foreign nations. It's there you'll see confectioners with sugarsticks and dainties The lozenges and oranges, the lemonade and raisins! The gingerbread and spices to accomodate the ladies And a big crubeen for thruppence to be pickin' while you're able. It's there you'll see the gamblers, the thimbles and the garters And the spotting Wheel of Fortune with the four and twenty quarters There was others without scruple pelting wattles at poor Maggy And her father well-contented and he lookin' at his daughter. It's there you'll see the pipers and the fiddlers competing The nimble footed dancers a-tripping over the daisies There were others crying cigars and lights and bills for all the races With the colors of the jockeys and the prize and horses' ages. It's there you'll see the jockeys and they're mounted out so stately The pink, the blue, the orange, and green, the emblem of our nation When the bell was rung for starting, all the horses seemed impatient I thought they never stood on ground their speed was so amazing. There was half a million people there from all denominations The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew, and Presbyterian There was yet no animosity, no matter what persuasion But "failte" and hospitality inducin' fresh acquaintance.