Paddy Reilly - The Town I loved So Well lyrics

In my memory I will always see
The town that I have loved so well
Where our schools 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 Craigeen
The Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole
Played the mother's role
Fed the children and then watched the dogs
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 loved so well
There was music there in the Derry air
Like a language that we could all understand
I remember the day that I earned my first pay
When 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 I'd learned 'bout life and
I've 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 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's gone but I still carry on
For their spirit's been bruised
Never broken they will not forget for
Their hearts are aset
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