Irish traditional song lyrics — collected by Beer Belly Band.
The checkpoints and the baracades, have all been taken down
As again I walk the streets of my native Derry Town
Along its lonely allyways , and bustling new highways
My thoughts of my troubled youth, in oh so many ways
The echos of explosions, from the violence of my past
Announcments of the deaths, on the six o’clock Newscast
The rise of civil rights, I had followed from the start
With hopes of new beginings, in a young mans foolish heart
Marches and demonstrations, they were our way to go
With banners and speaches, we thought that we could show
Chorus
The answer to our peaceful ways, was to put us all down
With the R.U.C. and Specials, and the forces of the Crown
My options were few, and the choice I made was clear
To the ranks of Derry’s provo’s, I became a volunteer
Chorus
Explosives and the Armalite, were now my tools of trade
In a Hellish confrontation, that the British forces made
Safe houses, on the run, became my way of life
No time for youthful pastimes, or to find myself a wife
Chorus
Forced to flee the confines, of the Cragin and Bogside
To be be there any longer, would be my suicide
I was captured on the border, revolver in my hand
Then taken by the Army, a token trial to stand
Chorus
Twenty years confinement, for my fight against the Crown
The sentence I most dreaded, not to see my Derry Town
A man who lost his youth, spent in a prison cell
Who can return once more, to his home in Brandy Well
Chorus X 2
Outro