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 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 Graigeen, The Moor and The Bog While the men on the dole played a mother's role Fed the children, and then walked the roads And when times got rough there was just about enough But they saw it through without complaining For deep inside was a burning pride For the town I love 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 the small pick-up band Then I spent my youth, and to tell you the truth I was sad to leave it all behind me For I'd learned about life and I'd found me a wife In the town I loved so well
But when I returned, how my eyes were 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 guns, oh my God what have they done To the town I love so well
Now the music's gone, but they still carry-on Though their spirit's been bruised, but never broken They will not forget for their hearts are all 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 love so well