As I roved out through Galway town
to seek for recreation,
on the seventeenth of August
my mind being elevated,
there were multitudes assembled
with their tickets at the station,
my eyes began to dazzle and
I’m going to see races.
With me whack, fol the do,
fol the did-de-ley, i-dle-ay.
It’s there you’ll see the gamblers,
the thimbles and the garters,
and the sporting Wheel of Fortune
with the four and twenty quarters.
There were others without scruple
pelting wattles at poor Maggy
and her father well contented
and he looking at his daughter.
With me whack, fol the do,
fol the did-de-ley, i-dle-ay.
There were passengers from Limerick
and passengers from Nenagh,
the boys from Connemara
and the Clare unmarried maidens,
and the people from Cork city
who were loyal, true and faithful,
that brought home Fenian prisoners
from dying in foreign nations.
With me whack, fol the do,
fol the did-de-ley, i-dle-ay.
It’s there you’ll see the fiddlers
and pipers competing,
the nimble-footed dancers
and they tripping on the daisies,
and others crying „Cigars and lights
and bills of all the races
with the colours of the jockeys
and the prize and horses’ ages”.
With me whack, fol the do,
fol the did-de-ley, i-dle-ay.
It’s there you’d see the jockeys
and they mounted so stately,
the pinks, the blues, the Irisher green,
the emblem of our nation.
When the bell was rung for starting
all the horses seemed impatient,
I thought they’d never stood on ground,
their speed was so amazing.
With me whack, fol the do,
fol the did-de-ley, i-dle-ay.
There was half half a million people
there of all denominations,
the Chatolic, the Protestant,
the Jew and Presbyterian.
There was yet no animosity,
no matter what persuasion,
but sport and hospitality
inducing fresh acquaintance.
With me whack, fol the do,
fol the did-de-ley, i-dle-ay.