The Ballad of Ronnie’s Mare Songtext
von The Dubliners

You can sing of all your sporting heroes
Like Mr Mac ran the race
But there′s a horse in the county of Wicklow
That's beaten all of the best
The slowest humper, the lowest jumper
But great for a stroll round the park

The serving lassies, the upper classes
And daughters of millionaires
They all would appear from far and near
For a ride on Ronnie′s mare
For a ride on Ronnie Drew's mare

In Graystones town on a Sunday morning
A crowd will always appear
To catch a glimpse of the famous mare
They call the horse of the year
She's the best at racin′, but sees no disgrace
In pulling a big old milk cart


The serving lassies, the upper classes
And daughters of millionaires
They all would appear from far and near
For a ride on Ronnie′s mare
For a ride on Ronnie Drew's mare

In the Barnaby bar boys talked of the horse show
And said she ought to be showed
She was tutored and trained by the two Evans boys
On the grass by the side of the road
Though she won up in Dublin without any troublin′
Next day she was back in the cart

The serving lassies, the upper classes
And daughters of millionaires
They all would appear from far and near
For a ride on Ronnie's mare
For a ride on Ronnie Drew′s mare

Joe Sweeny the punter suggested one day
They should enter her in for a race
So all was arranged, Billy Fox would be jockey
And Newcastle would be the place
But the boys all agreed it, even if she succeeded
She'd go back to deliverin′ milk


The serving lassies, the upper classes
And daughters of millionaires
They all would appear from far and near
For a ride on Ronnie's mare
For a ride on Ronnie Drew's mare

Well, the boys where there to lay out their readies
And cheer the horse past the post
But when Fox had a look at the competition
He turned as white as a ghost
We′ll have some hassle to beat Willy Castle
Says Ronnie "Oh for heaven′s sake!"

The serving lasses, the upper classes
And daughters of millionaires
They all would appear from far and near
For a ride on Ronnie's mare
For a ride on Ronnie Drew′s mare

The race it was tough, but the mare she was flyin'
They knew that she couldn′t lose
But in the midst of the celebrations
Arrived some tragic news
In her finest hour all the milk had gone sour
So now she was out of a job

The serving lassies, the upper classes
And daughters of millionaires
They all would appear from far and near
For a ride on Ronnie's mare
For a ride on Ronnie Drew′s mare