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 they 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 loved so well In the early morning the shirt factory horn Called 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 tough there was just about enough And 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 that 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 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 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 spirits 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 for ever I can only pray for a bright, brand new day In the town I love so well