The Town I Loved So Well

In my memory I will always see

The town that I have loved so well

Where our schools 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 the jail and down behind the fountain

Those were happy days in so many, many ways

In the town I love so well

In the early morning the shirt factory horn

Called women from Craigin, the moor and the bog

While the men on the dole played a mother's role

For 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 love 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 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'd learned about life and I'd found a wife

In the town I love so well

But when I returned, how my eyes were burned

To see how the town had been 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 barbed wire gets higher and higher

With their tanks and guns, oh my God, what have they done

To the town I love so well?

Now the music's gone but they carry on

For their spirit's been bruised, never broken

Oh, they'll not forget till 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 love so well