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 gasyard wall And we laughed through the smoke and smell. Going home in the rain running up the dark lane Past the jail and down beside the fountain Those were happy days in so many many ways In the town I loved so well. In the early morn the shirt factory horn Called women from Creggan the Moor and the Bog While the men on the dole played a mothers role Fed the children and then walked the dog And when times got rough there was just about enough But they saw it through without complaining For deep inside was a burning pride    for the town I loved so well. There was music there in the Derry air Like a language that we could all understand I remember the day when I earned my first pay as I played in a small pickup band    There I spent my youth and to tell you the truth I was sad to leave it all behind me For I’d learned about life and I’d found a wife In the town I loved so well. But when I returned how my eyes were burned To see how a town could be brought to it’s 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 that old gasyard wall And the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher With their tanks and 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 Oh they’ll not forget still their hearts are set On tomorrow and peace once again      Now 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.