"Town I Loved So Well"

Author: Phil Coulter

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 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 the women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole played a mother's 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
In 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
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
There I learned about life and I found a wife
In the town I loved so well:

But when I returned oh my eyes how they 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 damned 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
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
For the town I love so well.