"The Town I loved so well"

 

The Town I Loved So Well

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 ther gaol (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 their men on the dole played a mother's role
Fed the children and then trained the dogs.
And when times get tough, 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 all could 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
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 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.
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 loved so well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt-qn7KwnFo&ab_channel=CityofDerryInternationalChoirFestival