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.