STOUT - The Town I Loved so Well Lyrics

In my memory I will always see
The town that I have loved so well
Where our school played ball by the gasyard's 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 mornin' the shirt factory horn
Called the women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While their men on the dole played the mother's role
Fed the children and then trained 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 I loved so well

There was music there in the Derry air
Like a language that we all could understand
I remember the day that I earned my first pay
As I played in a small pickup band
There 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 found a loving 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 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 that old gasyard 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 is gone but they still carry on
For their spirit's been bruised, never broken
They will not forget and 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 and brandnew day
In the town I loved so well
In the town I loved so well