The Galway Races

As I rode down through 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 they're off to see the races

With me whack fol the do fol the diddlely idle ay

There were passengers from Limerick
And passengers from Nenagh
The boys from Connemara
And the Clare unmarried maidens
There were people from Cork City
Who were loyal, true and faithful
Who brought home the Fenian prisoners
From dying in foreign nations

And it's there you'll see the gamblers
With the thimbles and the garters
The sporting Wheel of Fortune
With the four and twenty quarters
There was others without scruple
Pelting wattles at poor Maggy
And her father well contented
To be gazing on his daughter

And it's there you'll see the pipers
And the fiddlers competing
The nimble-footed dancers
And they tripping on the daisies
There was others shouting cigars and lights
And bills for all the races
With the colors of the jockey
And the price and horses' ages

And it's there you'll see the jockeys
And they mounted at their stations
The pink, the blue, the orange and green
The colors of all the nations
When the bell was rung for starting
The horses seemed impatient
You'd think they'd never once touched the ground
Their speed was that amazing

There were half a million people there
Of all denominations
The Catholic, the Lutheran
The Jew and Presbyterian
And yet no animosity
No matter what persuasion
But fáilte, hospitality,
And peace throughout the nation