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The Town I Loved So Well

[ Roud - ; Mudcat 136477 ; Phil Coulter]

A very personal and passionate version of the moving Phil Coulter song. Trevor Lucas’s visit to Belfast in the late ’70s made a big impact on him and he learnt this song there.

This track was recorded live at The Troubadour Cafe, South Melbourne, Australia in October 1984. Vocals and guitar by Trevor Lucas. From The Attic Tracks Vol. 2 and The Attic Tracks CD.

Lyrics

Trevor Lucas sings The Town I Loved So Well

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 Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole played a mother’s role,
Fed the children and then walked the dogs
And when times got tough 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
Then 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’d found me 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 its knees
By the armoured cars and the bombed out bars
And the gas that hangs on every breeze
Now the army’s installed by that old gas-yard 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 they carry on
For their spirit’s been bruised, never broken
They will not forget but 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, brand new day
In the town I loved so well.