Town I Loved So Well - Hugo Duncan

In my memory I will always see

The town that I have loved so well

Where the school played ball

By the gas yard wall

And we laughed through the smoke and the smell

Going home in the rain runnin' up the dark lane

Past the jail and down behind the fountain

Those were happy days in so many many ways

In the town that 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 rough

There was just about enough

But they saw it through without complaining

For deep inside was a burning pride

In the town that 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

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 learned about life and I found a wife

In the town that I loved so well

But when I returned how my eyes they 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 the old gas yard wall

And the d**ned barbed wire gets higher and higher

With their tanks and their guns

Oh my God what have they done

To the town that I loved so well

Now the music's gone go they still carry on

For their spirit's been bruised never broken

Though they'll not forget

Still their hearts are set

On tomorrow and peace once again

For what's done is done

And what's won is won

But what's lost is lost and gone for ever

I can only pray for a bright brand new day

In the town that I loved so well