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


 * CHORUS:
 * 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 Protestant, The Jew and Presbyterian And yet no animosity No matter what persuasion But fáilte, hospitality, And peace throughout the nation