Song as a Teaching Tool

The Gasyard Cultural Centre in Derry, 

Song lyrics can be especially useful as part of an "inquiry activity," where students are confronted with artifacts pertaining to a subject that they do not yet know much about (in this case, the Troubles) and are asked to create questions and inferences based on what they are seeing. This is used to inspire interest in the topic, and to guide further research.

Any student who fondly remembers their childhood and laments some of what has changed with the passing of time since then (essentially, any student at all) can relate to the lyrics of Phil Coulter's 1973 classic song of the Troubles, "The Town I Loved So Well," which is used--in the Irish Tenors cover version--as the soundtrack for the 2004 Showtime/United Nations documentary What's Going On: Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Northern Ireland. Because the song is so relatable, and because it suggests a lot without saying very much that is overly explanatory, it's a good choice when doing inquiry research early in a unit or class about this period.

The first part of the song paints a vivid picture of an economically depressed, but culturally vibrant, childhood and young adulthood in the Bogside neighborhood of Derry. The second part laments the changes brought on by the early Troubles period, as the man of the song returns to his childhood home. The overall effect is to humanize the period, to create an empathetic response in the listener no matter where they may or may not come from.

As a Catholic who grew up in a Nationalist neighborhood, Coulter recently revealed to the Galway Independent that he once worried that the song would be taken by Unionists as "a rebel song," which was "the last thing we needed." He says the song is in fact a love song to a town, and he points out that it was recently used as a theme in a citywide celebration, signifying its acceptance as a song that celebrates the city of Derry in a nonsectarian way.

I include the lyrics below (for teaching purposes only):

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 they 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 dog.
And when times got tough
there was just about enough
And 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
When 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 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 its knees
By the armored cars and the bombed-out bars
And the gas that hangs on to 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,
for 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.


Songwriter: Phil Coulter

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