The Galway Races Chords & Lyrics Artist: Pogues, The Dubliners

VERSE 1
C
As I rode down to Galway town to seek for recreation
            Am                    G            C
On the seventeenth of August me mind being elevated
                Am         G                   Am            Em
There were multitudes assembled with their tickets at the station
      C                           Am       G        Am
Me eyes began to dazzle and I'm going to see the races
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 2
C
There were passengers from Limerick and passengers from Nenagh
      Am                          G            C
And passengers from Dublin and sportsmen from Tipperary
                Am         G                   Am            Em
There were passengers from Kerry, and all quarters of our nation
      C                               Am       G        Am
And our member, Peter Brennan, for to join the Galway Blazers
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 3
C
There were multitudes from Aran, and members from New Quay Shore
 Am                           G                C
Boys from Connemara and the Claire unmarried maidens
                Am           G              Am            Em
There were people from Cork city who were loyal, true and faithful;
      C                                      Am       G        Am
Who brought home the Fenian prisoners from diverse foreign nations
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 4
C
It's there you'll see confectioners with sugarsticks and dainties
        Am                    G            C
The lozenges and oranges, the lemonade and raisins!
       Am           G            Am            Em
The gingerbread and spices to accommodate the ladies
      C                                 Am       G          Am
And a big crubeen for thruppence to be pickin' while you're able
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 4
C
It's there you'll see the gamblers, the thimbles and the garters
            Am                              G               C
And the spotting Wheel of Fortune with the four and twenty quarters
            Am            G                Am            Em
There was others without scruple pelting wattles at poor Maggy
         C                           Am       G        Am
And her father well-contented and he looking at his daughter
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 5
C
It's there you'll see the pipers and the fiddlers competing
     Am                    G                   C
The nimble footed dancers a-tripping over the daisies
            Am            G                    Am                 Em
There were others crying cigars and lights and bills for all the races
          C                            Am        G        Am
With the colors of the jockeys and the prize and horses' ages
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 6
C
It's there you'll see the jockeys and they're mounted out so stately
    Am                                           G            C
The pink, the blue, the orange, and green, the emblem of our nation
          Am                G                   Am            Em
When the bell was rung for starting, all the horses seemed impatient
      C                                     Am       G    Am
I thought they never stood on ground their speed was so amazing
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
VERSE 7
C
There was half a million people there from all denominations
            Am                    G            C
The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew, and Presbyterian
           Am        G          Am            Em
There was yet no animosity, no matter what persuasion
      C                    Am       G        Am
But "failte" hospitality inducin' fresh acquaintance
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye
 
CHORUS
              C        G           Am
With your whack-fa-la-do-for-the-diddle-ee-idle-eye