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 love so well.
In he early morning the Shirt Factory Horn
Called women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole played the mothers 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, 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
And I played in the 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 Id 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 hands on to every breeze
Now the army’s installed, by the old Gas yard wall
And that 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 is gone, but they still carry on
Through their spirits 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 brand new day, for the town I love so well
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Lyrics submitted by Ken Smith.