The Galway Races

As I rode down to Galway town to seek for recreation

On the seventeenth of August my heart was elevated

There were multitudes assembled with their tickets at the station

Me eyes began to dazzle and I’m going to see the races

With me whack-fa-the-da-for-the-diddle-ee-iddle-day

There were passengers from Limerick and passengers from Nenagh

The boys of Connemara and the flair of married Ladies

There were people from Cork City who were loyal true and faithful

Who brought home the Fenian prisoners from dying in foreign nations

It's there you'll see the pipers and the fiddlers competing

The nimble footed dancers a-tripping o’er the daisies

There were others crying cigars and lights and bills for all the races

Colours 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 sportsman's hospitality and induce of fresh acquaintance