The Town I Loved So Well
In my memory I will always seethe town that I have loved so wellWhere our school played ball by the gasyard walland we laughed through the smoke and the smellGoing home in the rain, running up the dark lanepast the jail and down behind the fountainThose were happy days in so many, many waysin the town I loved so well
In the early morning the shirt factory horncalled women from Creggan, the Moor and the BogWhile the men on the dole played a mother's role,fed the children and then trained the dogsAnd when times got tough there was just about enoughBut they saw it through without complainingFor deep inside was a burning pridein the town I loved so well
There was music there in the Derry airlike a language that we all could understandI remember the day when I earned my first payAnd I played in a small pick-up bandThere I spent my youth and to tell you the truthI was sad to leave it all behind meFor I learned about life and I'd found a wifein the town I loved so well
But when I returned how my eyes have burnedto see how a town could be brought to its kneesBy the armoured cars and the bombed out barsand the gas that hangs on to every treeNow the army's installed by that old gasyard walland the damned barbed wire gets higher and higherWith their tanks and their guns, oh my God, what have they doneto the town I loved so well
Now the music's gone but they carry onFor their spirit's been bruised, never brokenThey will not forget but their hearts are seton tomorrow and peace once againFor what's done is done and what's won is wonand what's lost is lost and gone foreverI can only pray for a bright, brand new dayin the town I loved so well