The Town I Loved So Well

In my memory I will always see

the town that I have loved so well

where our school played ball by the gas yard wall

and we laughed through the smoke and the smell

Going home in the rain, running up the dark lane,

past ther gaol (jail) and down behind the fountain,

those were happy days in so many, many ways

in the town I loved so well.

In the early morning, the shirt factory horn

callde women from Creggan, the moor and the bog

while their men on the dole played a mother's role

fed the children and then trained the dogs.

And when times got tough, there was just about enough

but they saw it through without complaining

for deep inside was a burning pride

in the town I loved so well

There was music there in the Derry air

like a language that we all could understand

I remember the day when I earned my first pay

when I played in a small pick-up band

there I spent my youth and to tell you the truth

I was sad to leave it all behind me

for I learned about life and I found a wife

in the town I loved so well

But when I returned how my eyes have burned

to see how a town could be brought to its knees

by the armoured cars and the bombed out bars

and the gas that hangs on to every breeze

Now the army's installed by the old gas yard wall

and the damded barbed wire gets higher and higher

with their tanks and their guns oh my God what have they done

to the town I loved so well

Now the music's gone but they carry on

for their spirit's been bruised, never broken

they will not forget but their hearts are set

on tomorrow and peace once again.

For what's done is done and what's won is won

and what's lost is lost and gone forever

I can only pray for a bright, brand new day

in the town I loved so well