The Town I Loved So Well


"The Town I Loved So Well" is a song written by Phil Coulter about his childhood in Derry, Northern Ireland. The first three verses are about the simple lifestyle he grew up with in Derry, while the final two deal with the Troubles, and lament how his placid hometown had become a major military outpost, plagued with violence. The final verse includes a message of hope for a "bright, brand new day", saying "They will not forget but their hearts are set / on tomorrow and peace once again".
Stuart Bailie has described the song as one of the few "nuanced" songs during the Troubles that both Unionists and Republicans could sing.

Background

While Phil Coulter had written several Top 10 pop songs in the late 1960s, collaborations as a producer with The Dubliners and Luke Kelly, led to him writing a number of folk songs with more "grown-up" themes including those with a political aspect. The Town I Loved So Well was written against a backdrop of the Troubles in Derry, and released in 1973 on The Dubliners Plain and Simple album, which Coulter produced.

Covers

In addition to its long association with Luke Kelly, Paddy Reilly also had some success with the song, charting for a total of 18 weeks at different times during the 1970s. The song has also been covered by Dexys, The High Kings, The Irish Tenors, Johnny Logan, and Nathan Carter.
The song has also been translated and covered in other languages, including by Tri Yann, a Breton band, under the title "La Ville que J'ai Tant Aimée" with lyrics in French. Dafydd Iwan recorded a translation in Welsh, with Hannes Wader recording a German version, and Lillebjørn Nilsen a Norwegian version.