Jaded Isle

Thin Lizzy - Dublin (1971)

Watch in High Quality if you can, for the better sound. The "video" is non-original.

This song sums up many of my feelings towards the city I grew up in. I hate it and love it in near equal measure. When I left Dublin to live in Grenoble for a year, I was ecstatic to be out of the place, but I soon started to miss it. When I came home again, I almost immediately began to hate it again. Dublin is not Ireland, and Ireland is definitely not Dublin. The place has changed a lot since the inestimable Phil Lynnott sang this song, but it still retains some of its character, despite how much I run it down.

Lyrics:

After our affair
I swore that I'd leave Dublin
And in that line I'd left behind
The years, the tears, the memories and you

In Dublin

At the quays friends come and say farewell
We'd laugh and joke and smoke
And later on the boat
I'd cry over you

In Dublin

How can I leave the town that brings me down
That has no jobs
Is blessed by God
And makes me cry

Dublin

And at sea with flowing hair
I'd think of Dublin
Of Grafton Street and Derby Square
And those for whom I really care and you

In Dublin