Verse 1
I was seven when we left here
On a grey October tide,
With my hand in Daddy’s pocket
And my Mammy at my side.
And I watched the Claddagh fading
Till the mist took it away,
Too young to know what I was leaving
On the shore of Galway Bay.
Verse 2
I remember running barefoot
Where the water kissed the stone,
Fishing boats along the harbour
And the little road back home.
There were ribbons in my hair then,
There was salt upon the spray,
There was all the world I’d ever known
Beside old Galway Bay.
Chorus
Now I’m back beside the water
And the years have slipped away,
I’m the woman I became
And the child of yesterday.
I’ve been loved and I’ve been lonely,
I have come a long, long way,
But a little piece of Tassy
Never left old Galway Bay.
Verse 3
Oh, I’ve lived a life since leaving,
Raised my children, buried friends,
Learned to love a far-off city
Where the noise just never ends.
But the wind would find me somehow,
Though I lived a world away,
And I’d swear I heard the water
Calling Tassy home to stay.
Verse 4
Then I found the wall I sat on,
And it didn’t seem so high,
And the window Mammy called from
Caught the light and caught my eye.
An old man stopped and stared at me,
Then I heard him slowly say,
“Good Lord, is that our Tassy
Come home to Galway Bay?”
Bridge
And for one small precious moment
I was seven once again,
Running down towards the water,
Laughing somewhere in the rain.
All the years I’d carried with me
Simply seemed to fall away.
I hadn’t lost that little girl,
She’d been waiting by the bay.
Final Chorus
Now I’m back beside the water
Where I used to run and play,
I’m the woman who came home
And the girl who went away.
And if you ask me where I’m from,
There’s only one thing I can say:
My heart was always waiting
Here beside old Galway Bay.
Lyrics Michael Forty
Voice Catherine Forty