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 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
 callde 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 got 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 damded 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