Hi Alison,

I always considered this song to be the Belfast equivalent of "The Town I loved so well". But I never ever heard it except on the LP-Record "We have met together" of, among others, Mick Moloney. On the record cover, it is stated that the author deliberately withholds his/her name. The record is about 20 years old and the song hardly older. To the best of my knowledge, the tune has been written for this song (I do not know yet how to transcribe tunes). The lyrics are as heard from the record and have been checked by a native English speaker.

BELFAST TOWN

1. We've barricades and jellygnite and gunmen walk the streets,
We've CS-gas imported for our hungry kids to eat.
Our towns and nells sand-castled now and the waves begin to pound,
And I tell you, John, I've oftimes longed to leave old Belfast town.

2. Oh, Belfast is a City, where decent men are few,
Where drums and guns have mesmerized the working man(men), it's true,
Where democracy means hypocrisy and corruption does abound,
And I tell you, John, I've oftimes longed to leave old Belfast town.

3. For long we've been exploited and often I've asked why
That men without compunction are allowed to bleed us dry
In many a filthy tenements, in districts falling down,
And I tell you, John, I've oftimes longed to leave old Belfast town.

4. Our minds are filled with poison and I fear it is too late
To wipe our walls of malice and the words that speak of hate.
For freedom has been banished now and honest men put down,
And I tell you, John, I've oftimes longed to leave old Belfast town.

5. Oh, well now, John, you've been and gone around the world to see
And have you found a country where a working man is free,
Where there are no grasping landlords and no forces of the crown.
Oh, tell me, John, and I'll be gone far from old Belfast Town.