Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War

Subject: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 14 Mar 10 - 08:19 PM

This is an edited PermaThread® on Songs in the English Language about the Spanish Civil war, edited by Geoff Lawes. Feel free to post to this thread, but remember that all messages posted here are subject to editing or deletion.
-Joe Offer-

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THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF THIS MUDCAT THREAD IS TO COMPILE A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF SONGS WHICH HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN ENGLISH ABOUT THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.IT ALSO AIMS TO COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT THE CREATION AND SINGING OF THE SONGS

It is an edited PermaThread, which means that all messages are subject to editing and deletion. This may be necessary in order to ensure that the thread does not drift off course or become too long and complicated to be useful.

Posts to this perma thread are being

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consolidated

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and organised thematically according to song title and topic.
Clickable links to the location of these consolidated and organised postings are provide in the SONG LIST and TOPIC LIST below.
The most recent, unconsolidated posts appear at the bottom of the thread above the facility for posting new information.
UNCONSOLIDATEDand MOST RECENT POSTS

PLEASE DO NOT POST LYRICS OF SONGS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH: there are hundreds, most are well known and most can be found HERE

THE SONG LIST

CLICK THE SONG TITLE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE POSTS ABOUT IT

SONGS MARKED *** HAVE LYRICS POSTED

PERFORMERS MARKED # HAVE A HYPERLINK TO THEIR PERFORMANCE OF THE SONG

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 Title                                      WRITTEN BY,              Recorded By
 Abraham Lincoln Brigade, The .......... JOHN McCUTCHEON ........... John McCutcheon # 
 Abraham Lincoln Walks Again ........... TONY SALETAN .............. Tony Saletan#   
 Another Valley......................... GEORDIE MCINTYRE........... Geordie McIntyre
 ***As I Walk Jarama Valley............. GEOFF PARRY,NEVILLE GRUNDY. Neville Grundy
 Badajoz................................ BRUCE BARTHOL.............. Bruce Barthol
 ***Ballad of Heroes.................... AUDEN,SWINGLER,BRITTEN .... Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
 ***Battlefields of Spain,The .......... JOE MULHERRON .............  ? 
 ***Bite,The............................ NA MARA.................... Na Mara #   
 ***Bleeding Hearts..................... SI KAHN.................... Si Kahn 
 Catalonia   ........................... DE DANNAN ? ............... De Dannan  
 ***Civil War In Spain,The.............. JOE MULHERON & OTHERS?..... Pol MacAdaim#,Gerry Jones #
 Clarence Kailin......................... SI KAHN..................... Si Kahn # 
 ***Clem Beckett........................ GEOFF LAWES................ Geoff Lawes#
 ***Come Ye Anti-Fascists Rally......... BOB COONEY ................    ? 
 Connolly Column Song, The.................  ?     .................. Max Parker# 
 ***Connolly's Rebel Song..............  JAMES CONNOLLY............. ? 
 ***Cookhouse...........................     ?    .................. Pete Seeger and The Almanac Singers # 
 ***Dundee Lassie,The................... MARY BROOKSBANK ........... Maureen Jelks
                                                         ........... Ray Fisher# 
 ***Eddie's Song........................ UTAH PHILLIPS ............. Utah Phillips 
 ***Eight Men........................... GEOFF LAWES ............... Geoff Lawes#
 ***Folk Song Army,The.................. TOM LEHRER ................ Tom Lehrer               
 ***Gernika............................. ANDY ROBERTS............... Andy Roberts#
 ***If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next ................ Manic Street Preachers #
 ***I Want To Go Home................... GITZ RICE/ANON ............ ?
 ***Jamie Foyers........................ EWAN MacCOLL .............. Ewan MacColl,Dick Gaughan
 ***Jarama   ........................... ALEX McDADE ...............  ?
                                                         ........... Tom Glazer
                                                         ........... PeteSeeger
                                                         ........... Woody Guthrie
                                                         ........... Arlo Guthrie                                                   
 Just Another Dirt Track................ SUE HAITHWAITE.............  ?  
 ***Laurie Lee's Spain(Sixty Years On).. PETER SMITH ...............    - 
 ***Manana Song........................   ?       .................. Max Parker#
 ***Maria De La Rosas .................. RON KAVANA ................ Ron Kavana
 New Saint, The......................... LORCAN OTWAY...............  ?
 ***Non Intervention....................    ?       ................ -
 No Pasaran............................. GARY KAYE  ................ Gary Kaye#
 ***O'Duffy's Ironsides................. DIARMUID FITZPATRICK....... Ronnie Drew# 
 ***Off To Salamanca.................... DIARMUID FITZPATRICK.......  ? 

 ***Old Man's Song,The ................. IAN CAMPBELL............... Ian Campbell,Christy Moore#
 ***Only For Three Months............... P.McNAMARA & J. TEJEDOR.... Na Mara# 
 ***Our Open Eyes Could See No Other Way MICHAEL SAM WILD...........  -  
 Quartermaster's Song................... ?.......................... Pete Seeger and The Almanac Singers
 ***Song For James Moir ................ IAN McLAREN................ -
 ***Song For Unsung Heroes ............. NANCY WHITE................ Nancy White
 ***Song Of The American Consol ........ THE CONVULSIONARIES?......... Max Parker# 
 ***Song of the Lincoln Battalion....... 4 AMERICANS ON THE WAY TO SPAIN - 
 ***Spanish Bombs....................... THE CLASH.................. The Clash # 
 ***Spanish Civil War Song, The......... PHIL OCHS ................. Phil Ochs              
 Taste of Ashes......................... BRUCE BARTOL ............... Laurie Lewis#
 These Hands............................ THE WAKES................... The Wakes # 
 *** Viva La Quince/Quinte Brigada...... CHRISTY MOORE ............. Christy Moore      
 ***We Came To Sunny Spain..............      -      ............... Paddy Doyle#
 ***Yellow Roses........................      -
 Young Man From Alcala,The..............      -    .................. Pete Seeger& the Almanac Singers # 

 


 
THE TOPIC LIST 

 

 Sites With Songs In Other Languages
 Other Mudcat Threads Dealing With Spanish Civil War Songs
 Albums of Spanish Civil War Songs
 Brigader Ed Balchowsky As A Performer
 Brigader Bob Cooney As A Singer
 Brigader John Longstaff and Spanish Civil War Music
 Brigader Bart Van Der Schelling as a Singer
 Brigader Miles Tomalin As A Performer
 Brigader Sam Wild As A Singer
 Unknown Parody of Los Quatros Generales
 Na Mara
 Australia and the Spanish Civil War
 Canada and the Spanish Civil War
 New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War
 QUESTIONS THAT STILL NEED ANSWERS
 

 

Subject: ADD: Off to Salamanca
From: MartinRyan
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 04:16 AM

As an irish contribution, here's something I found on my computer - can't for the life of me remember where I picked it up!:

Battle song of the Irish Christian Front; "Off to Salamanca"


OFF TO SALAMANCA

My name is Owen O'Duffy,
And I'm rather vain and huffy
The side of every Bolshie I'm a thorn in
But before the break of day
I'll be marching right away
For I'm off to Salamanca in the morning!

Chorus
With the gold supplied by Vickers
I can buy Blue Shirt and knickers
Let the Barcelona Bolshies take a warning
For I lately took the notion
To cross the briny ocean
And I start for Salamanca in the morning

There's a boy called Paddy Belton,
With a heart that's soft and meltin'
Yet the first to face the foemen, danger scorning
Tho' his feet are full of bunions
Yet he knows his Spanish onions
And he's off to Salamanca in the morning.

Chorus

Now the "Irish Christian Front"
Is a Lombard-Murphy stunt
(Hark! the ghostly voice of Connolly gives warning)
And Professor Hogan's pals
Can don their fol-de-lals
And start for Salamanca in the morning

Chorus

When they get kicked out of Spain
And they travel home again
Let them hearken in good time to this our warning
If they try their Fascist game
They'll be sorry that they came
Back from Salamanca in the morning!

Chorus


Regards

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 09:56 PM

MARTIN RYAN: I have done a bit of Googling and it seems likely that Of to Salamanca was written by Somhairle Macalastair, pen name of Irish poet Diarmiud Fitzpatrick. There is an article about him written by H. Gustav Klaus called "The Authorship of the Somhairle Macalastair Ballads", Irish University Review, XXVI:2 (1996), 107-117. The first page of it can be read HERE If anyone has access to this without the need to cough up the 24 dollars that JSTOR are asking to read it then it would be nice to know if the article does confirm his authorship of the song. Another possibility is that the song is one of the 'same one or two ballads' by Somhairle Macalastair which the above article says are printed in the Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War Verse. Could somebody who has this book have a look please?

Does anyone have a tune for Off To Salamanca? Has it been recorded by anyone?

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: MartinRyan - PM
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 03:24 AM

Geoff

The tune is presumably "Off to Philadelphia in the morning".

I actually came across the song, in print, relatively recently - but am damned if I can recall the circumstances. It may well have been in the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin - I'll check. For many years, there was a satirical magazine called "Dublin Opinion" and it would not surprise me if that was the source. I've never heard it sung and had copied it with an eye to learning it.

Regards

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 08:10 AM

Thank You Martin - you probably know the historical context of Off To Salamanca but here is a link in case anyone wants to know more about Robert Belton and the Irish Christian Front

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: MartinRyan - PM
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 06:52 PM

Geoff

In case you haven't seen it: if your Spanish is up to it, there's a reference to "Off to Salamanca" in THIS ARTICLE with the same attribution

Regards

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 08:29 AM

THE FOLK SONG ARMY

Interesting project.

What on earth is this one doing on your list; it seems marginal at best to me:

Folk Song Army,The             TOM LEHRER,      Tom Lehrer

Charley Noble

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 09:49 AM

Yes Charlie, it is marginal in terms of its musical genre. But it does,I think,give an interesting critical perception of the impact of the SCW on popular culture in the post SCW period. And it is about folk music.


The Folk Song Army
By Tom Lehrer

We are the folk song army.
Everyone of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares.

There are innocuous folk songs.
Yeah, but we regard 'em with scorn.
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience.
Why they don't even care if jimmy crack corn.

If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.

The tune don't have to be clever,
And it don't matter if you put a coupla extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English,
And it don't even gotta rhyme--excuse me--rhyne.

Remember the war against Franco?
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs.

So join in the Folk Song Army,
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready! aim! sing!

If nothing else this thread is bound to prove that 'we had all the good songs'- so it might be considered the thread's theme tune?

TOM LEHRER -Wikipedia
Regards, Geoff

Subject: ADD: Eddie's Song (Bruce
From: Mark Ross
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 05:27 PM

EDDIE'S SONG

by Utah Phillips
written for Eddie Balchowsky.

Standing in your shadows I'm afraid to go outside,
I could listen to your music all night long,
But the world keeps on changing, there's no place left to hide,
And I know that we can't change it with a song.

CHORUS;
One hand on the keyboard, moonlight fills the room,
One hand on the Ebro, no regrets,
One hand on tomorrow reaching for the sun,
One hand on the sun that never sets.


The white cliffs of Gandesa lie sleeping in the rain,
I guess some places always have their kings,
And now I hear you singing those forgotten songs of Spain,
I wish I could remember all those things,

CHO.;

I thought that I had troubles when I was on the loose,
I guess that's just a carnival instead,
And now I hear those children, they're singing what's the use,
As they drop a little something for their head.

CHO.:


Mark Ross

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 09:56 PM


MARK ROSS:By Googling I discovered that Utah Phillips wrote Eddie's Song prematurely since he wrote it in response to an incorrect report that Eddie Balchowsky had died. Eddie Balchowsky, a pianist who lost an arm fighting with the International Brigades, has come up before in threads about the SCW but I don't recall this song being mentioned -so thanks .

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 06:47 PM

UKNOWN PARODY of Los Quatros Generales
Are you counting English translations Geoff? We have a recording somewhere of Paul Robeson singing Three(?) Insurgent Generals.
My father sang a few verses of what sounded like a parody which I can't remember but which ended;

....... from Gandesa to the sea.
And keep your bloody head down and don't shoot me.
Jim Carroll

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 09:56 PM

JIM CARROLL: At this stage I am not looking for translations of songs but thank you very much for the fragment your father sang:

....... from Gandesa to the sea.
And keep your bloody head down and don't shoot me.


Can anyone give us the rest?


Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 09:06 PM

JAMIE FOYERS

Jamie Foyers by Ewan McColl was a complete re-working of a much older song going back to Wellington's time. The earlier version is in the DT as Jamie Foyers2

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DIGITRAD LISTING HERE (Currently with an excerpt of a performance by Cockersdale)

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Subject: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 24 Mar 10 -

Jamie Foyers

By Ewan MacColl
Sung Ewan MacColl, Dick Gaughan

Faur distant, faur distant, lies Foyers the brave
Nae tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave
For his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil o Spain
An young Jamie Foyers in battle wis slain

He's gane frae the shipyaird that stauns on the Clyde
His haimmer lies idle, his tools laid aside
Tae the wide Ebro river young Foyers has gane
Tae fight by the side o the people o Spain

Thair wisnae his equal at wark or at play
He wis strang in the Union till his dying day
He wis grand at the fitbaa, at the dance he wis braw
Young Jamie Foyers wis the flouer o thaim aa

He cam hame frae the shipyaird, took aff his warkin claes
O, A mind the time weill in the lang simmer's days
He said, "Thinknae lang, lassie, A'll come back again"
But young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain

In the fight for Belcite, he was aye tae the fore
An he focht at Gandesa till he couldnae fight more
For he lay owre his machine gun wi a bullet in his brain
An young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain

Faur distant, faur distant, lies Foyers the brave
Nae tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave
For his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil o Spain
An young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain

LINK TO DICK GAUGHAN'S SONG ARCHIVE

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FROM AN OLDER MUDCAT THREAD
Subject: RE:Lyr Add: Jamie Foyers (old and new)
From: Jim Carroll - PM >br> Date: 11 May 09 - 03:00 AM

It first appeared in print in 'Scotland Sings' in 1953 (WMA publication). Ben Harker's biography, 'Class Act' gives it as having been written during the Spanish Civil war, following the death of two of his friends there:

"His anxiety was sharpened during the Spanish Civil War, in which around 2,200 British volunteers joined the International Brigades, and 526 were killed. Life in the ranks didn't appeal to Jimmie, but he knew at least a dozen of the British dead, and lost two of his closest comrades and friends in the heavy fighting at Jarama. Bob Goodman and Alec Armstrong, still in their early twenties, shared Jimmie's politics, his interest in theatre, and his love of rambling and climbing. Goodman was killed in February 1937, Armstrong in June.

Jimmie gave vent to some of the feelings of rage, guilt and loss in his second enduring song (the first was 'The Manchester Rambler'). 'Jamie Foyers' was a folksong Betsy used to sing lamenting a Perthshire militiaman killed in Spain during the Peninsular Wars. Recent events gave the song a new layer of associations, and Jimmie updated the text. In Jimmie's 'Jamie Foyers', the hero is a Clydeside shipyard worker, a composite of Goodman and Armstrong, who joins the International Brigade and dies fighting in Spain. Jimmie celebrates Foyers' life, dramatises his departure for Spain, and unblinkingly confronts the physical reality of his death: 'He lay owre his machine-gun wi' a bullet in his brain.' The song was a haunting requiem for fallen comrades, but closed on a note of murderous vengefulness:

He lies by the Ebro in far away Spain, He died so that freedom and justice might reign; Remember young Foyers and others of worth And don't let one fascist be left on this earth.

The Spanish Civil War augmented Jimmie's militancy. He regarded Spain as 'the front line' where 'the bourgeoisie and proletariat stand face to face in open struggle at last, no more arguments, no more trimmings', and he raged against a British political establishment that had prevaricated and fudged as the fascist threat grew. He remained extremely active within the Communist Party: he lectured on working-class history and cultural traditions to the city's YCL and party branches;123 he and Joan participated in a series of Communist pageants in which the party paraded its own distinctive version of history's march through the streets of Manchester; they provided dramatic interludes for communist-led public meetings celebrating the achievements of the Soviet Union, raising funds for the Daily Worker, and collecting cash and food for the Republican cause in Spain."

Scotland Sings give both the old and new version, the traditional one got from his mother, Betsy. Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 10:27 PM

CLARENCE KAILIN
By Si Kahn

Si Kahn has written a song about his friend Clarence Kailin (Lincoln Brigade veteran from Madison, WI) who died recently. I don't know if it has been recorded.

I wonder if the decision to exclude foreign-language songs and translations doesn't introduce an artificial distinction. In context, at least at SCW-related events, the English-language songs were always sung with the others.

Gail Malmgreen, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, Tamiment Library, NYU

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 09:27 PM

After Gail's Guest post I did some Googling and found that there is a You Tube video of Si Kahn talking about and then singing his tribute song for International Brigader Clarence Kailin's 95 birthday which you can see here Clarence Kailin

Thanks Gail

Geoff

NYU

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From: GUEST,Josh Dunson - PM
Date: 23 Apr 10 - 08:41 AM

Si Kahn has recorded "Clarence Kalin" on his May, 2010 release Courage.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 10:50 PM

The Limelighters sang "The Battle of Gendesa" in both Spanish and English. If I remember them correctly, the English lyric for the first verse was

If you want to drop a line
You must know where you can find me
At the Battle of Gendesa
Where the fire tries to blind me

And I guess the song of the Lincoln Battalion is the one set to Red River Valley

There's a valley in Spain called Jarama
It's a place that we all know so well
For 'twas there that we gave of our manhood
Where so many of our brave comrades fell

We are proud of the Lincoln Battalion
And the fight for Madrid that we made
There we fought like true sons of the people
As a part of the Fifteenth Brigade

Now we're far from that valley of sorrow
Though its memory we'll never forget
In the midst of the struggles around us
Let's remember our glorious dead

I've seen a few other verses, but these are the most commonly sung.

Charles

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: open mike
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 12:58 AM

ALBUMS OF SPANISH CIVIL WAR SONGS

Pete Seeger has a whole album of songs called Spain in My Heart here:
SPAIN IN MY HEART CD it is actually a compilation done by many artists. this is on Appleseed recordings. http://www.appleseedmusic.com/peteseeger/

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From: GUEST Date: 17 Mar 10 - 07:54 PM
a great album , not yet mentioned, is "Songs Of The Spanish Civil War" by Jamie O'Neil and Michael Smith.....Frank of Toledo

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From: Amos - PM Date: 23 Mar 10 - 01:05 PM
Several relevant cuts by the Almanac Singers can be found in this album ALMANAC SINGERS: The Sea, The Soil And The Struggle (1941-1942)

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From: Amos - PM Date: 23 Mar 10 - 01:09 PM
PASIONES: SONGS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR 1936-1939 By Michael Smith & Jamie O'Neil

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SONGS FOR POLITICAL ACTION Disc Four has Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers performance of six Spanish Civil War Songs

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SONGS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR VOLUME 1- PETE SEEGER FOLKWAYS RECORDS Includes Songs of the Lincoln Brigade & Six songs for Democracy reissue of records from the 1940's

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SONGS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR VOLUME 2 FOLKWAYS RECORDS,1966

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GEORGE AND RUTH-SONGS AND LETTERS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR by Tony Saletan, Sylvia Miskoe, Dan Lynn Watt, Molly Lynn Watt

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From: GUEST Date: 14 Apr 10 - 10:05
Al Tocar Diana: AT THE BREAK OF DAWN: SONGS FROM A FRANCO PRISON , by Max Parker

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: MartinRyan
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 04:55 AM

On the question of language: in recent years, I've taken to introducing a version of the Valley of Jarama with the first verse of Lorca's lament for a dead bullfighter - A las cinco en punto de la tarde.... The effect is, IMHO, quite powerful.

Regards

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Ross
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 05:48 AM

NA MARA

Have you heard any music by Na Mara

Information here

They have an interest & write songs

Rob Garcia

Rob was born in London of Spanish descent â€" his parents arrived in the UK as child refugees from the Spanish Civil War in 1937 â€" he trained as a professional musician and classical guitarist, studying at music conervatoires in the UK, Spain and Sweden.

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: na-mara - PM
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 07:20 AM

na-mara's songs about the Spanish Civil War: Part of na-mara's project recently has been to research the history, and write songs about the Spanish Civil War. Our song 'The Bite' is based on the experiences of the British International Brigader George Wheeler. We also perform a song entitled 'Solo por Tres Meses/Only for Three Months' which is about the exodus of the Basque Children from Bilbao in May 1937, following the carpet bombing of Guernica by Franco's fascist forces. We performed both songs at a gathering of the International Brigades Memorial Trust at the Imperial war Museum recently, and perform our Civil War songs at their yearly gathering in July at the International Brigades Statue/Memorial in Jubilee Gardens, at the South bank. For more information and to listen to our songs I would suggest people go to:

www.utube.com: type in 'na-mara the bite' and see and hear performances of this song www.myspace.com and type in 'namaramusic' to hear a performance of 'Only for Three Months' and background to the song. www.na-mara.com: for information on na-mara www.facebook.com and type in 'na-mara' www.international-brigades.org.uk: for information on the Internantional Brigades

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 07:33 AM

SAM WILD AS A SINGER

My Dad Sam was a Commander of the British Battalion in the IVth Brigade and was a great singer. Bob Cooney of Aberdeen, , the political commisar, who lived for a long time with the singing Campell family in Birmingham used to stay with us and I have a cyclostyled book of his songs and poems.

I wrote and sang one for the 70th Anniversary Celebations and Spanish citizenship awards for surviving veterans, in Barcelona

I'll post it later.

I took the title from a poem by C Day Lewis and also incorporated some other lnes from veterans we knew.

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 10:25 AM

Hi Mike, thank you for your Mudcat post. Something you can definitely help with if you have the time is to post information about your knowledge of the performance context of Spanish Civil War Songs. I did not know that your father, Sam Wild, was himself a singer, so that is very interesting. Did Sam sing in folk clubs or at Brigade reunions or only at home? He will, I guess, have sung many of the old Brigader songs in Spanish and German and maybe some translations. Did he sing any of the songs that were composed in English like Jarama or Jamie Foyers. Did he express any opinions about any of the later songs written about the SCW?

I look forward to seeing your song posted.

Regards, Geoff

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 07:11 AM

Geoff

As well as songs from Spain my Dad sang a lot of Irish songs, Burns, Blues and comic songs as well as union songs and songs from when he was in the Royal Navy. I learnt Paddy McGinteys Goat, Joe Hill, Cafferty, Frankie and Johnny etc etc .

In Spain, like any soldiers they sang mainly to keep their spirits up. They weren't dour Stalinists. There were working class and OxBridge poets writing about their experience and Jim Jump jrs book has a lot in . The original Jarama song was a 'gripe' an a piss take about being left in the trenches so lon and forgotten. They sang about 'There's a valley in Spain called Jarama, it's a place that we all know so well. It was there that we wasted our manhood and most of our old age as well!' Obviously after they left Spain it made a good celebration and rallying song.

The political stuff was songs like The Internationale and the revised Jarama at meetings and reunions back home. He liked the Spanish Viva la Quinte Brigada song , with Ay Manuela chorus..But even there they sang in English 'When you cross the Rio Ebro, Rumbala etc -'Better get your bleeding skates on'.

I was born in 1939. After Spain I remember reunions and socials where a variety of songs were sung but again in a very mixed way. This was before the 2nd folk revival but at camps, Clarion club and coop meetings and YCL socials, Unity Theatre etc there was a mixed bag of songs.

My Dad came with cooney to a few fok clubs but the atnmosphere wasn't his scene. He preferred a pub sing song night. Bob was more comfortable with the folk clubs because of his Campbells association I think.He taught me a lot of bothy ballads as well as political songs and was always learning and writing.

My old man was happier in the snug of our local Irish pub The Union on Stockport Road in Manchester.His family were from that community.

He was a bit ambivalent about Jimmy Miller , as he always called him!

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 09:55 AM

Thank you Mikesamwild: That was very valuable information about Sam Wild ( whom I have seen called the best commander of the British Battalion in Spain). And thank you for posting your great song. Have you recorded it ? There are quite a few points that I will be picking up later such as the history of Alex McDade's Jarama.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 07:07 PM

COME ALL YE ANTI-FASCISTS RALLY
By Bob Cooney

To the tune Men of Harlech

Come ye anti-fascists rally,from your towns and hamlets sally,
Over moor and hill and valley,chase the fascists
Now's the time for action if we'd beat reaction
Men of steel, make Franco reel
For all his crimes we must have satisfaction
Each for all, and all for each we stand
Comrades in a loyal determined band
And thus united, soon we'll see the dawn of victory.

Even Eden's foul intervention - criminal " Non- Intervention" -
Won't defeat our firm intention- Franco's hopes are doomed
Let there be no quaking,history we are making
Every foe that we lay low
Means for our martyred dead, revenge were taking
Each for all, and all for each we stand
Comrades in a loyal determined band
And - thus united, soon we'll see the dawn of liberty.

Did anyone ever hear Bob Cooney sing this? Does anyone know when it was written. The lines:
'Even Eden's foul intervention - criminal " Non- Intervention" -
Won't defeat our firm intention...'
suggest that it was written while the Spanish Civil War and Anthony Eden's Non-Intervention policy was still going on.

Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 07:15 PM

YELLOW ROSES

Thank you Folkiedave. I went back to mikesamwild's earlier post......................

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 07:33 AM

Fay Hield sings Yellow Roses, which is I think a Translation . The words are in Forest Schools songbook it will be on her forthcoming Topic CD.

---

.............and his suggestion that The words of Yellow Roses are from the Forest Schools songbook. I followed a Google trail and found this

Forest Schools Camps
which has a section called Glee where the words are printed.It doesn't tell us the background - but I know Fay Hield has posted on Mudcat before so perhaps she might come on and tell us what she knows?

                                    
Yellow Roses
I lay on my back with the sun in my eyes

Soon I shall know what no living man knows

All of my life's been a fight against lies

Death brings the truth, now it's my turn to know

Send my mother a lock of my hair

Send my father the watch that he gave me

Tell my brother to follow me if he dare

Tell them I'm lost now, and no-one can save me

Remember, remember, send my love little yellow roses

My father taught me that all men are equal

Whatever colour, religion or land

Told me to fight for the things I believed in

This I have done, with a gun in my hand

Send my mother a lock of my hair

I met my love in a garden of roses

She pricked her finger - how sharp the thorn grows

We made a promise that till Death did part us

We'd never look on that wild yellow rose

Send my mother a lock of my hair

Send my father the watch that he gave me

Tell my brother to follow me if he dare

Tell them I'm lost now, and no-one can save me

Remember, remember, send my love little yellow roses

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Folkiedave - PM
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 05:24 PM

"Little Yellow Roses" sung by the Fay Hield Trio on the EP Looking Glass - to be a Topic CD around September. And do catch them if you get chance they are good.

I haven't been able to recover where I first read this as a Spanish Civil song but I definitely did and Fay believes it dates from then. I have a vague memory about the words being passed through the bar of a cell by a dying man.

Fay got it from a camp fire song book.

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Folkiedave - PM
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 08:46 PM

I couldn't remember the name of the outfit - but that is the one.

Interestingly if you type "Little Yellow Roses+Lyrics" into Google you get the Jackie DeShannon Song which seems to have some borrowings. If it is a Spanish Civil War song then she seems to have knicked her chorus.

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 10:20 AM
Thank you Folkiedave for the Jackie DeShannon information. I have googled and her song is here Jackie DeShannon's Little Yellow Roses Elsewhere I saw that it was recorded in 1963 and reached 110 in he US charts. If you compare the lyrics with the Yellow Roses lyrics above then clearly one is a re-written version of the other. I would guess that the Jackie DeShannon version had the harder edged references to death and war removed rather than these being added later. On this link to a Flickr photo of a Jackie DeShannonPromotional Disk we can see the name (Trevor Peacock or Penrock )?? under the title suggesting someone else's hand in the altered song.
I suggest that you look at the You Tube link fairly quickly because another You Tube video of the song has been removed for a 'violation' which suggests that Miss DeShannon's team are quite hot on copyright violation.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 07:11 AM



OUR OPEN EYES COULD SEE NO OTHER WAY

Here's that song I wrote 70 years on.I was asked to sing a song at the celebrations but felt there wasn't one that said enough after a lifetime had passed. Originally I meant to sing it to a melodeon or concertina accompaniment but decided it was best unaccompanied.The tune is one I 'made up' but it may have sub conscious echoes of dance tune we heard in Catalunya when we went out there with Sheffield Morris.

Our Open Eyes Could See No Other Way
By Michael Sam Wild

Now three score years and ten have passed
The olive tree of peace is green at last
And you who took the flag and carry on the fight
Must know, as we did, that the cause was right

From many lands and tongues we came
And no one came for private gain
From mills and mines and ivory towers
To join the struggle that was ours

We were not dupes or mindless slaves
We were not pawns in some great game
We were at war and yet we were at peace
We came to share the fight for freedom and release

So if they ask you why we came
What brought us here to fight for Spain
The only answer we would say
'Our open eyes could see no other way."

So plough this earth in which so many lie
And sow the seeds that will not die
And let the people live as one
That all may take their place beneath the Sun

Repeat

So if they ask you why we came
What brought us here to fight for Spain
The only answer we would say
'Our open eyes could see no other way."

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Chris Steller
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 07:45 AM

SPANISH BOMBS
by The Clash
on their "London Calling" album:

Spanish songs in Andalucia
The shooting sites in the days of '39
Oh, please, leave the vendanna open
Fredrico Lorca is dead and gone
Bullet holes in the cemetery walls
The black cars of the Guardia Civil
Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica
I'm flying in a DC 10 tonight

CHORUS
Spanish bombs
yo te quiero infinito
yo te quiero oh mi corazon
Spanish bombs
yo te quiero infinito
yo te quiero oh mi corazon

Spanish weeks in my disco casino
The freedom fighters died upon the hill
They sang the red flag
They wore the black one
But after they died it was Mockingbird Hill
Back home the buses went up in flashes
The Irish tomb was drenched in blood
Spanish bombs shatter the hotels
My senorita's rose was nipped in the bud

CHORUS

The hillsides ring with "Free the people"
Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?
With trenches full of poets
The ragged army, fixin' bayonets to fight the other line
Spanish bombs rock the province
I'm hearing music from another time
Spanish bombs on the Costa Brava
I'm flying in on a DC 10 tonight
Spanish songs in Andalucia, Mandolina, oh mi corazon
Spanish songs in Granada, oh mi corazon

Hear it in full at Lala:
http://popup.lala.com/popup/504684659247323076

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 08:18 AM

IF YOU TOLERATE THIS YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE NEXT

mikesamwild mentioned a Spanish Civil War song by Manic Street Preachers (another group associated with Strummer, though he wasn't in it). The song is "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"

Wikipedia has an article about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_You_Tolerate_This_Your_Children_Will_Be_Next

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 12:02 PM

Here Is a You Tube video using the song as performed by The Manic Street Preachers IF YOU TOLERATE THIS YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE NEXT

If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

By The Manic Street Preachers

The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
'So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot fascists'

Bullets for your brain today
But we'll forget it all again
Monuments put from pen to paper
Turns me into a gutless wonder

And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next, will be next, will be next

Gravity keeps my head down
Or is it maybe shame
At being so young and being so vain

Holes in your head today
But I'm a pacifist
I've walked La Ramblas
But not with real intent

And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next, will be next, will be next


'And on the street tonight an old man plays
With newspaper cuttings of his glory days'

And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next, will be next, will be next

There are lots of videos posted on You Tube which use this song as a soundtrack. The one above uses photographs of the Spanish Civil War but this link will give you many others to choose from MORE
 

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Rog Peek Minus Cookie)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 12:25 PM

SPANISH CIVIL WAR SONG
Phil Ochs

Oh, say do you remember 25 years ago,
They fought the fascist army, they fought the fascist foe?
Do you remember Franco, Hitler's old ally?
He butchered Spain's democracy,half a million free men died.

Ai, ai, ai, ai--
Did you wonder why?
Did you ever pause and cry?

And don't forget the churches and the sad role that they played:
They crucified their people and worked the devil's trade;
But now the wounds are healing with the passing of time,
So we send them planes and rifles and recognize their crime.

Ai, ai, ai, ai--
Did you wonder why?
Did you ever pause and cry?

So spend your tourist dollars and turn your heads away.
Forget about the slaughter, it's the price we all must pay,
For now the world's in struggle, to win we all must bend:
So dim the light in Freedom's soul: sleep well tonight, my friend.

Ai, ai, ai, ai--
Did you wonder why?
Did you ever pause and cry?

RP mar10

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 02:33 PM

LAURIE LEE'S SPAIN(SIXTY YEARS ON)

This is getting very informative.


I have just remembered that Sheffielder Pete Smith wrote a great song about Spain, As I Roved out one Midsummer Morning , juxtaposing the laurie lee idelaism with modern Costas.



Roy Blackman of Rotherham, a noted poet and singer) also wrote one , Quiet Flow the Irwell and the Don. it's about Clem Beckett who was killed on the first day of Jarama along with writer and poet Chris Cauldwell ( real name Christopher St John Sprigge)

Clem was from Oldham and a noted Speedway rider for Sheffield and Manchester Belle Vue Aces. Hence the title

Roy B is an expert on sport and was the TV memory man!


I'll get the words to you unless they come on Mudcat first.


I'm also chasing some songs by Manus O'Riordan of Dublin whose dad Michael (RIP) was in Spain.My Dad sent the young feller across the Ebro clutching the brigade flag, as he said 'I made a great target, thanks to Sam Wild!' The family are great singers and musicians.

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST (Peter Smith)
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 09:07 AM

Hi,

I was talking to Mike Wild last night in the pub and he asked me to forward a copy of a song I wrote in 1997. The idea for the song, although it started out as a poem, came early one morning on holiday in Mercia, Spain, whilst waiting up for my youngest daughter to return from one of the local nightclubs. At the time I was reading Laurie Lee's book 'As I walked out on One Mid Summer's Morning' and looking round I found it hard to believe that all those who went off to fight for the democratically elected gov't in 1936 would appreciate the modern Spain that caters for British tourists. Unforunately things have not significantly changed since the song was written.

To my knowledge I am the only person to have sung the song and there is no recording. It was always my intention to make a recording and post it on my website (ispy4.co.uk) but unfortunately I have never quite got round to doing it.

Laurie Lee's Spain(Sixty Years On)

By Peter Smith

As I walked out on one midsummer's morning
A jubilee since the promise of the name
To taste and smell the riches of the morrow
To see times effect on Laurie Lee's Spain

There's still the heat and the scent of jasmine
Cicadas hammering down the heat of the sun
But no more mystery and innocence of purpose
Franco's costa is the victory won

Still the graffiti of the fresco minded
Of fashion and pop and doodling fun
But no more calls of 'La Pasionaria'
A million Dolores in a land of one

No more calls from the donkey-peasant
Tanned to leather by the sun and pain
Only the pose of mobile messengers
Ephemeral and plastic like the coast of Spain

Bikini ladies as bare as the landscape
Shaped by olives and the soaring sun
Stirring dreams and dazzling the senses
Stymming the thoughts of Owell's man

Where are the hopes and promises of yesteryear
Where are the bones of Hemmingway's Spain
Not drifting on the tides and the sounds of the costas
But walking on the morn of an Andean name

Stand to the chords of L'Internationale
Raise your hopes above the flash mundane
Remember the aims of Sam Wild's army
On one midsummer's morn in Laurie Lee's Spain

As I walked out on a midsummer's morning
To taste and feel the past of Spain
Only the words of remembered poets
On one midsummer's morning in modern Spain

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 11:37 AM

THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE
Here is a link to a You Tube video of THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE by John McCutcheon

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 11:48 AM

THE DUNDEE LASSIE

By Mary Brooksbank

Here is a link to a performance ofTHE DUNDEE LASSIE sung by a very young sounding Ray Fisher on a site called FM radio. This is the Mary Brooksbank song also known as Eh'm a Dundee Lassie.
There is a limit to the number of times that this site will allow you to listen to any particular track.

---

Subject: Brooksbank's Dundee Lassie
From: GUEST,Mike Arnott - PM
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 10:46 AM

The Dundee Lassie
I am a Dundee Lassie you can see
You'll aye find me cheerful
Nae metter whar I be
There's times I feel doonhearted
Often sad and ill
I'm a spinner intae Baxter's Mill.

My Mither de'ed when I was young
My father fell in France
I'd a liked tae be a teacher
But I never got the chance
I'll soon be getting merried
Tae a lad ca'd Sammy Hill
He's an iler intae Halley's Mill.

I'm chumming wi a lassie
They ca' her Jeenie Bain
She says she'll never marry
Her lad got killed in Spain
I affen hear her speak aboot
A place they call Teruel
She's a winder intae Craigie Mill.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 12:34 PM

These Lyrics for BLEEDING HEARTS are from the Digital Tradition

BLEEDING HEARTS
By Si Kahn

A
Who's that new guy
D
Just can't learn to weld a fender
A
Where's old Eddie
E
That could do it every time
A
Fourteen years
A
And he just empties out his locker
D
Rolls on out the gate and says,
A
"I'll see you boys some time."


Dmi
But now he's lying

On some rocky Spanish mountain
Bb
With his rifle on his shoulder
A
And his heart pinned to his sleeve
Dmi
'Cross the valley
C
As he sights along the barrel
Bb
He can see the distant outlines
A
Of the things that he believes

He was never
The one who made the speeches
Down at Chrysler
Where we fought 'em from the line
Eddie never
Got his picture in the paper
He was never out in front
But he was always right behind

But now he's lying
On some rocky Spanish mountain
With his rifle on his shoulder
And his heart pinned to his sleeve
'Cross the valley
As he sights along the barrel
He can see the distant outlines
Of the things that he believes

Don't you think
That there's something inside people
Like a spring
That life winds up so tight
Till one day
Something snaps and all the power
That's been coiled up inside them
Comes breaking through like light

But now he's lying
On some bloody Spanish mountain
With his rifle bent and smoking
And his heart that pumps and bleeds
Through the dying
He can feel the future rushing
And it feels a little closer
To the things that he believes

--------------------------------------------
copyright Joe Hill Music 1982
recorded by Si Kahn on "Doing My Job" (1982)

This is my favourite Si Kahn song because words and music together create
a very dense atmosphere. If you can get your guitar to play some
Flamenco chords in the chorus, you may get there.

The song is about an American member of the International Brigade in the
Spanish Civil War 1936-39.

@war @union @death @Spanish @work
filename[ BLEEDHRT
MJ

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 08:26 PM

THESE HANDS
Here is a link to a You Tube video of THESE HANDS by Glasgow group The Wakes.

Mikesamwild also posted a link to the bebo site where the song can be heard at http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3610402984 984

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 09:51 AM

Thanks for that link Geoff. they are a geat young group and very committed. I was on the same bill at Manchester Mechanics at a memorial last year and it's nice to see they have a CD out. I originally Googled 'The Wake' but they were another indie band from the same area!

The thread has spurred me to work on a couple more songs that have been lying dormant , good on you!

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 10:58 AM

here's piece by Manus O'Riordan from the recent tribute to Jack Jones at the Imperial War Museum. Connolly's song was adopted by the battalion as a marching song.
The British Battalion's anti-imperialism was even more strongly affirmed by its adoption, as one of its marching anthems throughout the course of the Spanish Anti-fascist War, of James Connolly's own "Rebel Song". At the IBMT Pyrenees commemoration ceremonies in the Figueras fortress of Castell de Sant Ferran, there were three International Brigade veterans present: the late Bob Doyle of Dublin and the late Jack Jones, a Liverpool Club supporter, accompanied by his lifelong comrade and friend from youth - notwithstanding the fact that he's an Everton supporter! - this veteran whom, to the end of his days, Jack Jones both addressed and referred to as Young Jackie Edwards, although his senior by only one year! . And in that Catalan fortress, on Easter Sunday 2006, there could be heard, loud and clear, the voices of both of those Liverpudlian brigadista Jacks, as they heartily joined with me in singing these verses by James Connolly:


CONNOLLY'S REBEL SONG

Come workers sing a rebel song,
a song of love and hate,
of love unto the lowly
and of hatred to the great.
The great who trod our fathers down,
who steal our children's bread,
whose hands of greed are stretched to rob
the living and the dead.

Chorus:
Then we'll sing a rebel song
as we proudly march along
to end the age-old tyranny
that makes for human tears.
And our march is nearer done
with each setting of the sun
and the tyrant's might is passing
with the passing of the years!

We sing no more of wailing
No songs of sighs or tears;
high are our hopes and stout our hearts
and banished all our fears.
Our flag is raised above us
that all the world may see,
'tis Labour's faith and Labour's arm
alone can Labour free.

Chorus

Out of the depths of misery
we march with hearts aflame;
with wrath against the rulers false
who wreck our manhood's name.
The serf who licks the tyrant's rod
may bend forgiving knee;
The slave who breaks his slavery's chain
a wrathful man must be.

Chorus

Our army marches onward
its face towards the dawn,
in trust secure in that one thing
the slave may lean upon.
The might within the arm of him
who knowing freedom's worth,
strikes hard to banish tyranny
from off the face of earth.

Then we'll sing a rebel song as we proudly march along
to end the age-old tyranny
that makes for human tears
And our march is nearer done with each setting of the sun,
and the tyrant's might is passing with the passing of the years

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 10:05 PM

My grandfather recorded several songs, at least two of which I believe were written in English (Connolly Column Song and the Song of the American Consul; the second was my favorite as a kid;) the Smithsonian now has the collection. The PDF with lyrics and stories is free, and you can hear clips for free as well. Al Tocar Diana: At the Break of Dawn: Songs from a Franco Prison, by Max Parker I think the English parts of the Manana song were originally in English, but of course it has lengthy Spanish bits.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 01:11 PM

CATALONIA
Here's a link to the album details of Catalonia from a De Dannan recording
Catalonia by De Dannan

With a comment that it's better than a lot of political songs from after the event.

I do think a lot of songs from Socialist Choirs etc fall into the didactic and heavy school. I think Waltzing Matilda, Willy McBride   etc are more effective with modern audiences.

Strangely I don't remember any songs sung amongst surviving IB'ers about individual men who gave their lives . I think they wouldn't single out any one man as a lot had died. The symbolic or representative Jamie Foyers is a powerful song nowadays but my Dad found 'the bullet in the brain' bit of Jamie Foyers sensationalist and felt that McColl had no right to write the song as he'd not been there.


And yet as a Fenian (his description of himself) he'd gladly sing Kevin Barry and Kelly the Boy from Killane!

---

Does anyone have more information about this Da Dannan song?
Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 09:18 PM

SITES WITH SONGS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

There are many good songs in Spanish and German, such as the songs collected and recorded by Ernst Busch - but there are already several existing threads on Mudcat which deal with these songs. There are also several fairly comprehensive websites where the history, lyrics and mp3's of these songs can be found.

La Cucaracha:http://lacucaracha.info/scw/music/index.htm (Spanish)

Himnos Y Canciones de la Guerra Civil: http://www.guerracivil1936.galeon.com/canciones.htm (Spanish)

Altovoz del Frente: http://www.altavozdelfrente.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=14&Itemid=30 (Spanish)

Etapa Republicana: http://icodrepublicano.iespana.es/letrascanciones.htm (Spanish)

erinnerungsort.de: http://erinnerungsort.de/Lieder-A-Z-_86.html (German)

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,MC Fat (at work)
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 06:51 AM

JUST ANOTHER DIRT TRACK
By Sue Haithwaite
Mike came to the sesh at the Hillsborough last night. We were tlking about this thread. On the Clem Beckett theme Sue Haithwaite from Huddersfield wrote a song for me called 'Just Another Dirt Track' about Clem. I'll get the words and post it on.

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,MC Fat - PM
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 09:40 AM

ANOTHER DIRT TRACK                

My dear I hope you understand
The reason why I came
I could not have lived my life at home
Knowing what went on in Spain
My love, the battle rages on
The bullets round us fly
But you should know I love you still
Though I know I soon may die

Dear Clem I know your love of life
And I can't believe you'll die
That's why when you said 'so long kid'
A tear ne'er left my eye
You always lived your life at speed
Challenged the Wall of Death
You ousted wrongs, stood up for right
They will not steal your breath

Chorus        This is just another dirt track
        Leading onto victory
        Another race the 'just' must win
        To set each of us free
        Hear engines roar, hear people cheer
        Instead of guns and screams
        We must never say it was in vain
        These lives weren't lost for dreams

My love I know we've little time
We're once more on the road
Arganda Bridge we must defend
Where Jarama River flows
We're ill equipped but fight we must
So now I take my leave
Remember life's for living love
Do not a long time grieve

Chorus        This is just another dirt track
        Leading onto victory
        Another race the 'just' must win
        To set each of us free
        Hear engines roar, hear people cheer
        Instead of guns and screams
        We must never say it was in vain
        These lives weren't lost for dreams

My dear they came to me today
They said that you were gone
Only five months since you left my arms
I felt they must be wrong
You'd so much life before you still
But I'm forced to realise
I'm only one thousands
Valedictions tears in my eyes

Chorus        This is just another dirt track
        Leading onto victory
        Another race the 'just' must win
        To set each of us free
        Hear engines roar, hear people cheer
        Instead of guns and screams
        We must never say it was in vain
        These lives weren't lost for dreams

This is just another dirt track
United will win our dream

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 24 Jun 10 - 06:53 PM

Thank you for getting us the words for ANOTHER DIRT TRACK Jim and please thank Sue for letting her song be posted here.

I notice that you originally referred to the song as JUST Another Dirt Track. I put it in the Song List that way and have not yet altered it - could you ask Sue if the Just should be there or not so that I get it right?

Regards, Geoff

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 10 - 11:39 AM

This is an amazing song that gets me in the heart everytime I hear it. This needs to be recorded asap. PPPPlease please please. X

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: MC Fat - PM
Date: 27 Jun 10 - 12:20 PM

I sang it with Sue on the main stage at Saddleworth FF. To my knowledge it's not been recorded apart from on a home recording by Sue.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 08:30 AM


CLEM BECKETT
By Geoff Lawes

I have a song of my own about Clem Beckett which I wrote last year. I went to a Festival across the other side of the Pennines and on the way back I decided to call in and see the Oldham memorial to the International Brigades, having seen it in the book MEMORIALS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR. I went to the Museum/ Library, where the book says ' Visitors to Oldham will find a permanent memorial to Clem Beckett and his fellow volunteers in the form a beautifully designed relief sculpture in the entrance hall'. I couldn't see it and so I asked at reception and was told that I would need to make an appointment to see it because it is now kept in the store room. So I wrote the song. I sang the song for the first time in public last month during the annual Jarama Commemoration march at the International Brigades Memorial at Jarama, where Clem Beckett died.

Clem Beckett


Clem Beckett was an Englishman, whose praise I'm proud to sing,
Not some media-made celebrity, or millionaire or king.
It was skill at motorcycling that made Clem a household name,
But he lost his life in battle, in the Civil War in Spain.

Chorus
Ride on Clem Beckett, and the Wall of Death defy,
May your name live on forever and your spirit never die.

In Oldham Clem was born and raised, and learned the blacksmith's trade,
And it's there his social conscience and, his politics were made.
But with speed being Clem's great passion he began to dirt-track race,
And by his middle twenties he'd become a speedway ace.

Some kick away the ladder when, they've scaled the heights of fame,
Some lose their fellow feeling and give up the common aim,
But for Clem there was no turning, and no principle betrayed,
Instead he formed a union for the riders' mutual aid.

Clem criticised promoters who exploited riders' lives,
So they took his Speedway licence and withdrew his right to ride.
But he still continued riding as his means of earning pay,
Though he now rode for his living in a Wall of Death display.

In Summer,1936, Spain's army coup began,
And Clem was quick to answer to the cry, ' No Pasaran!',
On a hillside at Jarama, felled by fragments of grenade,
Died the finest dirt track rider that England ever made.

Ride on Clem Beckett, and the Wall of Death defy,
May your name live on forever and your spirit never die.
Ride on Clem Beckett, and the Wall of Death defy,
May your name live on forever and your spirit never die.

Clem Beckett was an Englishman, whose praise I'm proud to sing,

© Geoff Lawes January 2010

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 08:58 AM
Nice song about Clem , Geoff. My Dad was badly injured in the same engamenet, he was a fellow machine gunner. I'm only here because he survived, and several times after that too.Sorry we couldn't get to the Jarama memorial this year. (When I first saw Richard Thompson 's song title Wall of Death I thought it was about Clem!)

There is some great material and pictures on Clem in Sheffield University Fairground Archive, he was a star at the track and in carnivals. Ironially Jarama is now the name of a race track! A fact I have woven into the novel I may never finish!

Thanks for the info on editing. I have no problem I just didn't know the ground rules.It would be nice to think sources and credits weren't lost for ever.

I saw Pete Smith last night at the same session Jim mentioned and he said he'd come on here and enter his song it's a good

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 08:20 PM

Thanks to Geoff Parry who filmed my song Clem Beckett last Saturday and posted it on YouTube HERE
It was performed at Jubilee Gardens, near the London Eye as part of the Annual International Brigades Memorial Day.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 09:07 AM

Hi,

I was talking to Mike Wild last night in the pub and he asked me to forward a copy of a song I wrote in 1997. The idea for the song, although it started out as a poem, came early one morning on holiday in Mercia, Spain, whilst waiting up for my youngest daughter to return from one of the local nightclubs. At the time I was reading Laurie Lee's book 'As I walked out on One Mid Summer's Morning' and looking round I found it hard to believe that all those who went off to fight for the democratically elected gov't in 1936 would appreciate the modern Spain that caters for British tourists. Unforunately things have not significantly changed since the song was written.

To my knowledge I am the only person to have sung the song and there is no recording. It was always my intention to make a recording and post it on my website (ispy4.co.uk) but unfortunately I have never quite got round to doing it.

LAURIE LEE'S SPAIN (SIXTY YEARS ON)

By Peter Smith

As I walked out on one midsummer's morning
A jubilee since the promise of the name
To taste and smell the riches of the morrow
To see times effect on Laurie Lee's Spain

There's still the heat and the scent of jasmine
Cicadas hammering down the heat of the sun
But no more mystery and innocence of purpose
Franco's costa is the victory won

Still the graffiti of the fresco minded
Of fashion and pop and doodling fun
But no more calls of 'La Pasionaria'
A million Dolores in a land of one

No more calls from the donkey-peasant
Tanned to leather by the sun and pain
Only the pose of mobile messengers
Ephemeral and plastic like the coast of Spain

Bikini ladies as bare as the landscape
Shaped by olives and the soaring sun
Stirring dreams and dazzling the senses
Stymming the thoughts of Owell's man

Where are the hopes and promises of yesteryear
Where are the bones of Hemmingway's Spain
Not drifting on the tides and the sounds of the costas
But walking on the morn of an Andean name

Stand to the chords of L'Internationale
Raise your hopes above the flash mundane
Remember the aims of Sam Wild's army
On one midsummer's morn in Laurie Lee's Spain

As I walked out on a midsummer's morning
To taste and feel the past of Spain
Only the words of remembered poets
On one midsummer's morning in modern Spain

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 09:55 AM

Peter Smith that is a well written and well observed lyric. Please DO get round to recording and posting it on your web site and come back here and let us know when you have done it- lyrics need tunes like fish need water.

Regards, Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 12:26 PM

THE BITE
Here is a You Tube video of THE BITE by Na Mara at Cambridge Folk Club

Na Mara, THE BITE

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: na-mara - PM
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 02:34 PM

"The Bite" by na-mara Music: R.Garcia / Words: Paul McNamara This is our homage to all those from the British Isles who volunteered to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. The willingness to leave the comforts of home and family to lay one's life on the line to fight for an idea and confront evil in a foreign land deserves greater remembrance than these heroes and heroines have received from decent people to date.

The song is loosely based on the experiences of George Wheeler who, when interviewed by the Guardian newspaper in 2000, told of his 'bite', a small piece of wood he would place in his mouth as he went onto the battlefield and which he could clench as a small defence against shell shock. This poignant detail moved us both greatly.

In recent years we have had the honour to play The Bite at the annual gathering of the International Brigaders in Jubilee Park, London, and have received many requests to record it. Finally, we have honoured our promises.

Listeners will note the reference in the song to the 'tricolor d'Espagna'. For those who know only the red and yellow flag of today's Spain, the flag of the elected Republican government of Spain comprised red, yellow and dark purple bands.

From all corners of the land our forces gathered
Arm in arm we gathered to fight
Comrades committed to the battle,
To stem the rising tide of fascist might

We had nurses we had students and shipbuilders
The brave responded to the call
And rallied to the 'tricolor d'Espagna'
Fighting for the future one and all

Chorus
I used to lie awake before the dawning
Thinking on the next day's bloody fight
Then the brightness of the Spanish morning,
Check your gun, your bullets, and your bite

We had comrades form the East End of London
At Cable Street they'd ruined Moseley's day
We had miners from the valleys of Carmarthen
All proud to wear La Quinta's black beret

At dead of night their homes these heroes parted
And quiet to Spain they made their way
Leaving grieving wives and sweethearts
Ignoring all entreaties there to stay

Chorus

By train to Perpignan then onwards
We crossed the Pyrenees by night
Avoiding French soldiers at the border
(And) its on to Albecete at daylight

We battled at the Ebro and Jarama
Were baked by Brunete's burning sun
Disbanded at the fall of Barcelona
La Passionaria praised us every one

Chorus

And now my life is nearly over
Did my comrades fall in vain?
No – fascists must be challenged 'ere they muster
In Blackburn, Barnsley or Brick Lane

Chorus
Chorus

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 02 April 10 -

Guardian Interview with Brigader George Wheeler
Independent Obituary of George Wheeler

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Neville Grundy
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 08:11 PM

My friend Geoff Parry writes a lot of poems, many of which are used as songs. I put a tune to this one and recorded it on a various artists CD called "May It Grow" in 2002. When I recorded it, I sang the first verse of the Spanish Civil War song "Jarama Valley" at the end; fortunately Geoff liked it! I sometimes get the names of the cities in the wrong order in verse two, and sometimes Belfast slips in there. At a St Patrick's Day singaround last week, I sang "Lads from Dublin and from Belfast." Geoff and I both feel honoured that my recording of this song is in the International Brigades archive. It's called, "As I Walk Jarama Valley".


AS I WALKED JARAMA VALLEY

Words by Geoff Parry, Music by Neville Grundy

I came looking for adventure
A young lad of twenty-one
Joined my brothers from many nations
To live or die 'neath the Spanish sun

Lads from London and from Dublin
Factory workers from Marseilles
Boys from Belgrade and from Boston
Waited in the line that day

Chorus:
As I walk Jarama Valley
You may see me walk alone
But I march with the ghosts of comrades
I fought beside so long ago

Forward came the fascist army
We raised our rifles as one man
General Franco must have heard us
As we shouted "No Pasaran!"

France and England would not help us
Still today I don't know why
They ignored the bombs and slaughter
And let the brave republic die

Chorus: etc.

If they'd sent us tanks and field guns
If they'd sent us fighter planes
We could have dealt with evil Franco
There'd have been no fascist Spain

I sing for all my fallen comrades
And the brave fifteenth brigade
This song is for the Spanish people
Not defeated, but betrayed

Chorus: etc.

© Geoff Parry 2002.

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Geoff Parry - PM
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 04:05 AM
Thanks to Nev for putting forward the lyrics to "As I Walk Jarama Valley", which was recorded on "May They Grow" in 2002. Thanks to Geoff for posting them here. Geoff - do you only post lyrics, or would you be interested in poems as well? On our last cd, "That Eastern Wind", I was lucky enough to have two SCW poems read by two well-known actors: Marlene Sidaway (of the IBMT) and Bernard Wrigley ("The Bolton Bullfrog"). If you'd like them on here, I'd be happy to post them.

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 06:29 AM
GUEST, Geoff Parry:Thanks for your post. This thread is only about songs so don't post poems although from the quality of your excellent lyric As I walked Jarama Valley I would expect them to be pretty good. You said: On our last cd, "That Eastern Wind"... When you recorded your song, was the performance by Neville Grundy AND Geoff Parry or was the recording referred to in Neville's original post by him alone? I will add your name -or the name of your group,in the song list at the top if that is the case.I would like to get it right.

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Geoff Parry - PM
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 12:27 PM
Geoff - I wrote the lyrics to "As I Walk Jarama Valley". Nev Grundy composed the tune and sang it on the cd in 2002. I played no part in the performance, so your existing notes are correct.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 08:30 PM

TASTE OF ASHES
By Bruce Bartol

Here is a link for a video using TASTE OF ASHES performed by Laurie Lewis

TASTE OF ASHES- Laurie Lewis

This is on SPAIN IN MY HEART CD

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 05:28 AM

ANOTHER VALLEY
Geordie McIntyre wrote and recorded a song called "Another Valley" about the SCW. You might e-mail him for the lyrics and tell him about this project, as he may not be a mudcatter and may have other songs worth a mention.
You can contact him at xxxxxxxxxxxx

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 07:01 AM
Thank you GUEST for posting about Geordie McIntyre's song ANOTHER VALLEY which I heard him sing during Whitby Folk Week last Summer. It was on my list of songs about which to make further enquiries. And thank you for the contact details which I have noted and then edited out of your post so that Geordie does not get emails offering him a penis extension or the chance to earn a million pounds just for making his bank account temporarily available for the transfer of funds from Nigeria.

Regards, Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Amos
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 10:23 AM

THE YOUNG MAN FROM ALCALA
The Lincoln Battalion, by cracky,
A bunch of brave boys from Kentucky
They would hold down the line
For weeks at a time
Getting sick on Italian spaghetti.

Yippee-ki-yippee-ki-yo!

A sole ragtag excerpt from a song I once knew. Sorry I don't have more.

A

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 11:18 AM

Thanks Amos: It is a verse from The Young Man From Alcala. The song was first recorded in 1943 on an album called Songs of the Lincoln Battallion by Pete Seeger and The Almanac Singers.Here is a YOUTUBE video

THE YOUNG MAN FROM ALCALA

Here is some further information about the song which was a parody of an earlier song

'The melody used for The Young Man from Alcala comes from a 19th century song called Yip-Ay-Addie-I-Ay that was later adapted as the theme song for the animated spinach-loving seafarer, Popeye, in the 1930s'.

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 07:56 AM

Alcala de Henares was a place where the Fifteenth Brigade was briefly given leave from the Jarama front in the Spring of 1937.
Alcala De Henares

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 08:19 PM

MARIA DE LA ROSA

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Steve Shaw - PM
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 01:20 PM
Ron Kavana used to sing an absolutely beautiful song about the Spanish Civil War called Maria De La Rosa. As far as I know he wrote it himself. I heard him sing it in 1993 at the Tree Inn Folk Club in Bude. He subsequently recorded it for his album Alien Alert.

---

I posted above about Ron Kavana's song "Maria De La Rosa" which appeared on his live "Alien Alert" album in the late 1990s. I wrote down the words to the best of my ability this afternoon and I have Geoff and Joe Offer to thank for easing my mind about copyright issues! So here are my jottings. I must point out that the album insert doesn't print the lyrics and I'm assuming that the place-name "Lérida," a town in Catalonia, is what Ron sings. Also, "Finn O'Mara" is my interpretation of the name. Ron does sing exceptionally clearly. In the intro to the song on the album Ron states that the song is based on a true story thst he gleaned whilst on holiday in the Basque country. I heard him singing it several years before this album was released, in fact I can state that it was on October 1 1993 at the Tree Inn folk club in Cornwall on a night that no-one who was there will forget. I have a somewhat ropey cassette recording of him singing it that night which, in its way, is even more beautiful than the album version. I think it's a truly lovely song. So there!

..........................................

I set out for Spain with a romantic notion
To trace the paths of Irish volunteers
Who had left their homeland to fight and die on foreign soil
In the late '30s, Franco's bloody years

In a sleazy bodega in the back streets of Bilbao
I met a girl with bright green eyes and long red hair
Maria De La Rosa O'Mara sang in Spanish
A version of She Moved Through The Fair

Maria De La Rosa O'Mara
Sing your song one more time
Por favor
Tell us the tale of your dead grandfather
And his part in the Spanish Civil War
Tell us the tale of crazy, noble glory
Finn O'Mara in the Spanish Civil War

Finn O'Mara joined the Basques up near San Sebastian
In the northern campaign of '38
Kept the supply lines open on the border
'Til Barcelona fell and it was all too late

Captured by the Blueshirts somewhere near Lérida
He faced the fascist firing squad that very day
His one last request "Bury me in Basque country
But know I die for freedom, not for Spain."

Maria De La Rosa O'Mara
Sing your song one more time
Por favor
Tell us the tale of your dead grandfather
And his part in the Spanish Civil War
Tell us the tale of crazy, noble glory
Finn O'Mara in the Spanish Civil War

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 07:11 AM

THE CONNOLLY COLUMN SONG
mikesamwild posted information and lyrics to Connolly's Rebel Song further up the thread but Gail Malgreen of the Tamiment Library in New York has told me of a song called "Connolly Column Song" ("Proudly we're marching, proudly we're singing.....") which appears to be a different song. Does anyone know anything about this one?

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From: GUEST
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 10:05 PM

Al Tocar Diana: At the Break of Dawn: Songs from a Franco Prison, by Max Parker,Track 209 Click on the ► symbol 209 to hear a performance extract.

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The Connolly Column Song


Proudly we're marching, proudly we're singing.

The song of our country we all hold so dear

Far from our native land, proudly we take our stand

We're members of the International Brigades.

Think of the guns we bear, think of the clothes we wear

Think of the insults endured in thy name

Tempered by the sun of Spain, hardened by the wind and rain

We're members of the International Brigades.


The lyrics above are an extract from the liner notes on the Smithsonian /Folkways Al Tocar Diana site (below) but the next page is missing. I guess there is more to the song . Does anyone know more, or have access to the complete Notes?If you do will you post the full lyrics here please?

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From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 27 Apr 10 - 06:56 AM
The Connolly Column Song

Many thanks to Manus O'Riordan for identifying the tune to which this song is sung as being O'Donnell Abu,

O'Donnell Abu in DIGITRAD

And thanks also to Manus for directing me to the YouTube video of

LIAM CLANCY AND TOMMY MAKEM SINGING O'DONNELL ABU

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From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 27 Apr 10 - 07:22 AM
The Connolly Column Song

Thanks to Heather Bridger for looking at her paper copy of the liner notes for this song on the Max Parker recording Al Tocar Diana: At the Break of Dawn: Songs from a Franco Prison Heather confirmed that the lyrics which I reproduced above are the complete lyrics as they are reproduced there.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 05:08 PM

VIVA LA QUINCE BRIGADA

Here are some YouTube videos of Christie Moore's song Viva La Quince Brigada
Note that the song is sometimes called Viva La QUINTE Brigada a mistake Christie Moore made in naming the the song when he originally wrote and recorded it but which he later corrected.
Also note that the same title is also used for a very well known Spanish song Ay Carmela, AKA Ay Manuela, AKA The Crossing of the Ebro with its distinctive chorus of 'Rumbla, Rumbla, Rumbla-la'

VIVA LA QUINCE BRIGADA performed live by Christie Moore

VIVA LA QUINCE BRIGADA as originally recorded by Christie Moore

VIVA LA QUINCE BRIGADA performed by Aoife Clancy & Shay Black From the album: Spain in My Heart - Songs of the Spanish Civil War.

VIVA LA QUINCE BRIGADA performed by Charlie & The Bhoys

VIVA LA QUINTE BRIGADA performed by Ronnie Drew

Viva La Quince Brigada
By Christy Moore

Ten years before I saw lhe light of morning
A comradeship of heroes was laid.
From every corner of the world came sailing
The Fifteenth Inlernational Brigade.
They came to stand beside the Spanish people.
To try and stem the rising Fascist tide
Franco's allies were the powerful and wealthy,
Frank Ryan's men came from the other side.
Even the olives were bleeding
As the battle for Madrid it thundered on.
Truth and love against the force af evil,
Brotherhood against the Fascist clan.

Chorus:

Vive La Quince Brigada!
"No Paseran" the pledge that made them fight.
"Adelante" was the cry around the hillside.
Let us all remember them tonight.

Bob Hillard was a Church of Ireland pastor;
From Killarney across the Pyrenees ho came.
From Derry came a brave young Christian Brother.
Side by side they fought and died in Spain.
Tommy Woods, aged seventeen, died in Cordoba.
With Na Fianna he learned to hold his gun.
From Dublin to the Villa del Rio
Where he fought and died beneath the Spanish sun.

Chorus

Many Irishmen heard the call of Franco.
Joined Hitler and Mussolini too.
Propaganda from the pulpit and newspapers
Helped O'Duffy to enlist his crew. The word came from Maynooth: 'Support the Fascists'.
The men of cloth failed yet again
When the bishops blessed the blueshirts in Dun Laoghaire
As they sailed beneath the swastika to Spain.

Chorus

This song is a tribute to Frank Ryan.
Kit Conway and Dinny Coady too.
Peter Daly, Charlie Regan and Hugh Bonar.
Though many died I can but name a few.
Danny Doyle, Blaser-Brown and Charlie Donnelly.
Liam Tumilson and Jim Straney from the Falls.
Jack Nally, Tommy Patton and Frank Conroy,
Jim Foley, Tony Fox and Dick O'Neill.

Chorus

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 09:51 AM

I've got the Topic EP with the Spanish one on. We played it at my Dad's funeral in Sheffield, along with Engand Arise by Edward Carpenter.

After the funeral we went with those IBrs who'd made it to the funeral and had a few jars and a wake and a singsong at the Royal Standard, a nice Ward's house in those days. I am wracking my memory for some of the songs they sang but itwas a strange day.

Bob Cooney was not quite with it at the time sadly and goodness knows how he got there but he did and he declaimed some of his poems and sang The Old Maid in the Garret, one of my Dad's favourites.

Subject: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: na-mara
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 02:37 PM

ONLY FOR THREE MONTHS
Music: J.Tejedor / Words: Paul McNamara
Performed by Na mara

Here are the lyrics to na-mara's song about the evacuation of the Basque Children from Bilbao in May 1937. To listen to the song go to http://www.myspace.com/namaramusic

This is a song inspired by the story of Rob's father, Fausto, who was evacuated as a child from Bilbao in 1937 when the city was surrounded and blockaded by Franco's fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Fausto was 9 years old at the time and travelled with his older brother Theo, aged 11. They were amongst 4,000 children brought to the UK to escape the bombs and the fighting. After much shameful prevarication by a British Government keen to appease the burgeoning fascist powers in Europe, the evacuation was undertaken following increased pressure from British socialists and others after the criminal carpet bombing of Guernica by the German Condor Legion. Parents were not allowed to travel with their children and the parting must have been unbearable. In order to console their children, mothers told them it was "only for three months" - "solo por tres meses".

After Bilbao fell to Franco, most of the children were repatriated. However, around 400 remained in the UK, largely because the authorities could find no trace of any living relatives - either because they were no longer alive, had escaped to other parts of Republican Spain or were refugees in France. Fausto was amongst the group that remained in the UK. He didn't see his own parents until the end of the Second World War - nearly 10 years after he had left Bilbao. His own parents had suffered many trials and tribulations in Spain and North Africa before finally arriving in the UK in 1946. His mother hardly recognised him and, indeed, some of the other children who were re-united with their parents had forgotten their mother tongue and could not communicate with their parents in Spanish. Those that remained did, in the words of the song, "make their way".
This song is dedicated to the memory of Rob's father, Fausto Garcia., Paul wrote the words using information supplied by Rob, and from Adrian Bell's book "Only for Three Months".

The music is taken from the tune 'Cimiano' written by Javier Tejedor from the Tejedor album 'Musica na Maleta'. Javier has very kindly given us permission to use the tune here. We hope the song goes some small way to recording what must have been a truly heartbreaking parting.

Only For Three Months

It was nineteen thirty seven, on the twenty first of May
We boarded the Habana, and from home we sailed away,
Solo por tres meses, we heard our mothers say
And to England we were taken
And it's there, for many years we were destined to stay

Oh it's well do I remember, childhood days before the war
They were filled with peaceful pleasures, we thought they'd last forever more
But Mola's troops pressed harder, and loud the guns did roar
And in silence we retreated
Into the city, where we crowded on every floor

Proud Bilbao was surrounded, blockaded from the sea
And with air raid sirens howling, to the refuge we would flee
As desperation mounted, rumours came to be
A ship would sail for England
And through the night, our mothers queued to set us free

At the station we assembled, and with tears said our goodbyes
(And) the rain it was our comfort for the bombers could not fly
And Franco's ships stayed silent, when Fearless they did espy
And through the stormy Bay of Biscay
Basque children, in their thousands sailed by

When we landed at Southampton, the Sally Army band did play
Our 'exilio Ingles', it began that very day
But when we heard Bilbao had fallen, our tears we could not stay
Forlorn and broken hearted,
It was sure, that in England we'd make our way.

It was nineteen thirty seven, on the twenty first of May
We boarded the Habana, and from home we sailed away,
Solo por tres meses, we heard our mothers say
And to England we were taken
And it's there, for many years we were destined to stay

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,brendan byrne
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 04:29 PM

SONG FOR UNSUNG HEROES

I picked up a casette some years ago with songs by Nancy White
( produced in 1994)from an a tribute LP to IB Volunteers from Canada Songs mostly are in Spanish with one SONG FOR UNSUNG HEROES in English which celebrates the contribution made by Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion in Spain. I can dig it out and forward on the lyrics ( written by Nancy White )if okay. Impressed with the whole project and congratulations to the ONLIE BEGETTER ( WHO ? )

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 28 Mar 10 - 06:11 PM

Hi GUEST, brendan byrne Thanks for your post. Howard Kaplin sent me a PM to tell me about Nancy White's song SONG FOR UNSUNG HEROES and he put me in touch with her. She said she was happy to send me the words with background information as soon as she can, but cannot do it for a while. Now that I have your post about the song I shall put the title in the song list index at the top and make a click link Thanks, Geoff

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From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 05:50

Song For Unsung Heroes
By Nancy White. 1993

from the cassette "Songs of the Spanish Civil War and Other Struggles" by Nancy White and Rick Whitelaw
TRACK LIST HERE

1. It was against the law, you know,
It was against the law to go,
And it was someone else's struggle, someone else's land,
But they were fourteen hundred men,
And half were never seen again,
For they were men of such conviction that they took that stand.

2. Boys from the city and the farm
Heard news of Spain with great alarm,
Heard of the international brigade, a siren call,
Went to Jarama and Madrid,
We are so proud of what they did,
We who have never had to watch a treasured comrade fall.

3. And those who gave away their youth
To fight for freedom and for truth
Were not received with any victory parade,
But we salute them here today,
With all our hearts let's join and say
"Viva los MacPaps, may their memory never fade."

   CHO: Let us sing a song for unsung heroes,
             The men who fought the war in Spain,
             Let us celebrate their deeds of valor,
             Let us celebrate the few who still remain,
             The MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion,
             Canada's bravest without doubt,
             The ones who couldn't stand by
             And let freedom's flame go out.


Many thanks to Nancy White for sending me the lyrics to post here.
Nancy White's My Space

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 09:11 AM


Brigader ED BALCHOWSKY AS A PERFORMER

FROM AN EARLIER MUDCAT THREAD
HERE
Subject: RE: BS: Abraham Lincoln Brigade
From: Art Thieme - PM
Date: 17 Mar 01 - 12:17 AM

Si Kahn did that song you mentioned on my old NPR radio show (The Flea Market--Chicago--early 1980s). He did it because ten minutes earlier I had introduced him to Ed Balchowsky, a veteran of the Lincoln Brigade. Ed was a concert pianist who had lost an arm in a battle near the Ebro River. After surgery, for pain he had been given morphine to which he became addicted. He stayed that way for the next 40 years. Ed would still sing the stirring songs of that war and play the piano with his one hand. (See, also, Utah Phillips fine song about Ed "One Arm On The Ebro".)(EDDIE'S SONG) There were many more than the mentioned 12 members of the Lincolns. As I recall it, there were 3,200 people who felt strongly enough about stopping Franco and fascism that they went over and fought in that war. Only HALF came back alive. Hitler practiced for World War 2 in Spain supporting Gen. Franco with his Luftwaffe and bombs. It's felt by many (as was said) that he could've been stopped if the USA had gone after him then as in Kuwait recently. There were also volks in Germany fighting in the Spanish Civil War against Franco and their own Hitler. These volunteers made up the International Brigades. Yes, these were leftists and Socialists and Communists and Democrats and just anti-fascists. I'll always be proud to've been a friend of Ed Balchowsky's. Many of todays youth choose to use their limited supply of testosterone shooting their wad into the black hole and sponge-like stock market and gambling industry rather than dedicate their lives to humanity and allied causes.-----Because that choice has been made by them --- to indulge their personal greed rather than nurture their altruistic potentials----we are stuck with the the mentality that prevails in so many parts of today's world. I admired Ed Balchowsky's life-long commitment and I definitely prefer his ism to Donald Trump's.
Art Thieme

---

From: GeoffLawes
20 April 2010

Here is a link to a brief biography of Ed Balchowsky with photo:ED BALCHOWSKY'S BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 01:14 PM


OTHER MUDCAT THREADS DEALING WITH SPANISH CIVIL WAR SONGS

These threads include a wide range of songs in different languages but within them information about English language songs may be found

Spanish Civil War music (13)

Spanish Civil War Songbook Can You Help(9)

Lyr Add: Los Cuatro Muleros & Los Cuatro Generales (16)

Help: Songs of the Lincoln Brigade (25)

Lyr Add: Ay Carmela (1)

happy? - July 18 (Spanish Civil War) (2)

Lyr Req: Jack Atky & All: Spanish Civil War Song

CD: Spanish Civil War Songs and Letters (1)

Lyrics/Context: United Front Song (Einheitsfront) (2)

Lyr Add: The Civil War in Spain (15)

Lost thread on Spanish Civil War? (7) (closed)

Abraham Lincoln Brigade (25)

Help: Songs of the Lincoln Brigade (25)

LP of Spanish Civil War Songs, English? (4)

Jamie Foyers

BILL FEELEY,Lancs Singer&Int. Brigader

ADD: Viva la Quinta Brigada (Christy Moore & not)

Origins: Viva La Quince Brigada (Christy Moore?)

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SPAIN / THE CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN

Lyr Req: Mass for a Fallen International Brigader

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 03:23 PM


THE OLD MAN'S SONG


Has anyone mentioned The Old Man's song about 'one long bloody war' Sorry if I missed it. I know it keeps getting new verses added as we go on with just and evil wars

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 08:28 AM

The Old Man's Song is on Ian and Lorna Campbell, The Circle Game 1968 . Transatlantic TRA 163 http://www.orpheusweb.co.uk/gatherer/scottish/artists/ianc.html

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: zozimus - PM
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 05:39 PM

Hi Geoff, The Old Man's Song was written by Ian Campbell and recorded by the Ian Campbell folk Group. The lyrics are in Digitrad.

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 06:23 PM
THE OLD MAN'S SONG sung by CHRISTY MOORE


The Old Man's Song
By Ian Campbell
Tune: Nicky Tams

At the turning of the century I was a boy of five,

My father went to fight the Boers and never came back alive.

My mother, left to bring us, up no charity would seek,

So she washed and scrubbed and scraped along on 7/6 a week.



When I was twelve I left the school and went to get a job,

With growin' kids my ma was glad of the extra couple of bob.

I knew that better schooling would have stood me in better stead,

But you can't afford refinements when you're struggling for your bread.



When the Great War started I didn't hesitate,

I took the royal shilling and went off to do my bit.

We fought in mud and sweat and blood three years or thereabout,

Then I copped some gas in Flanders and was invalided out.



When the war was over and we'd finished with the guns,

We got back into civvies and I thought the fighting done.

I'd won the right to live in peace but I didn't have no luck,

For soon I found I had to fight for the right to go to work.



In 'twenty six the General Strike found me out on the street,

For I'd a wife and kids by then and their needs I couldn't meet.

But a brave new world was coming and the brotherhood of man,

But when the strike was over we were back where we began.



I struggled through the Thirties, out of work now and again,

I saw the Black Shirts marching and the things the did in Spain.

But I raised my children decent and I taught them wrong from right,

Then Hitler was the lad that came and showed them how to fight.



My daughter was a Land Girl, she got married tae a Yank,

They gave my son a gong for stopping one of Rommel's tanks.

He was wounded just before the end and convalesced in Rome,

Married an Eyetye nurse and never bothered to come home.



My daughter writes me once a month a cheerful little note,

About their colour telly and the other things they've got.

She has a son, a likely lad, he's just turned twenty-one,

Now she says they've called him up, to fight in Vietnam.



Now we're on the Pension and it doesn't go too far,

Not much to show for a life that seems like one long bloody war.

When you think of all the wasted lives it makes you want to cry,

I don't know how to change things but by Christ we'll have tae try.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 29 Mar 10 - 06:14 PM


BRIGADER BOB COONEY AS A SINGER


Bob Cooney was an International Brigader and also a singer. While in Spain he was political commissar of the British Battalion and during the sixties and seventies sang in British Folk Clubs.He was a friend of Ian Campbell and his family and sang on their L.P The Singing Campbells (Topic 12T120, 1965)
Article about Bob Cooney as a singer

LP cover and track list

An Old MUDCAT Thread about Bob Cooney

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 06:16 AM


COOKHOUSE


Here is a link to a YouTube Video using the song
COOKHOUSE

Cookhouse

Performed by Pete Seeger & The Almanac Singers

From the Album: Canciones De Las Brigadas Internacionales -
Songs Of The International Brigade.

There is an old cookhouse
not far away
Where we get sweet damn
all three times a day.
Ham and eggs we never see,
damn all sugar in our tea,
and we are gradually
fading away.

Old soldiers never die,
Never die, never die,
Old soldiers never die
They just fade away.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Fay
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 04:14 PM

Hi all,
I don't have much more info about Little Yellow Roses from the FSC songbook - only that Sam Lee (a fellow FSCer) told me it was writen as a poem by a man due to be hung the following day and passed through his cell bars to the guard. Jon asked a taxi driver about the tune when he was over there giging last year, and was told it was an old Spanish tune. I do appreciate though that these sources are not rigerously academic! If I hear anything from the process of publication re the DeShannon link I'll let you know...
All best, Fay

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 07:15 PM

Hi Fay, thanks for posting. Have you seen my post which carried the link to the YouTube video of Jackie DeShannon singing Little Yellow Roses? I have just moved that post so that it is consolidated with all the other posts about this song. It can now be found by using the click link for Yellow Roses in the Song List in my initial post.

Does she use the same tune as you? Do you call the song LITTLE Yellow Roses or just Yellow Roses? Was Jon's gig in Spain or the US?

Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 09:40 AM


QUARTERMASTER'S SONG


YouTube Video QUARTERMASTER'S SONG - Pete Seeger and the Almanac singers

From the Album: Canciones De Las Brigadas Internacionales -
Songs Of The International Brigade.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 12:57 PM


JARAMA
By Alex McDade



There's a valley in Spain called Jarama,

That's a place that we all know so well,

For 'tis there that we wasted our manhood,

And most of our old age as well.



From this valley they tell us we're leaving

But don't hasten to bid us adieu

For e'en though we make our departure

We'll be back in an hour or two



Oh, we're proud of our British Battalion,

And the marathon record it's made,

Please do us this one little favour

And take this last word to Brigade:



"You will never be happy with strangers,

They would not understand you as we,

So remember the Jarama Valley

And the old men who wait patiently".



This is probably the most widely known song written in English to come out of the Spanish Civil War. When Alex McDade, from Glasgow, wrote it in the Spring of 1937 it was as a parody of the well known American song Red River Valley and it made wry and humorous comment upon the soldiers' conditions on the Jarama front where the British Battalion was then stationed. The lyrics later went through a number of changes which are outlined in this Wikipedia article HERE

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 10:56 AM

On the subject of Alex McDade's Jarama: in BRITONS IN SPAIN by William Rust which was originally published in January 1939 after the British Battalion had returned from Spain but before the official end of the Spanish Civil War,Rust reproduces the Jarama words which I gave above and also says about the origin of the song

'The long-expected rest came at the end of April, when the Battalion went into billets at Alcala de Henares. But before they had time to shake themselves down they were back in the line again, and stayed there until the middle of June. It was upon the return to the line that Alex McDade of Glasgow wrote the following song (to the tune of ""Red River Valley"), which, because of its humorous cynicism, became popular in all Battalions.'

Does anyone have access to, or information about, an earlier publication of the Alex McDade lyrics? The Wikipedia article HERE says:

'The earliest known version of the lyrics was written by Alex McDade, of the British Battalion, XV International Brigade and published in 1938 in The Book of the XV International Brigade by the Commissariat of War, Madrid, 1938.'

The book referred to, The Book of the XV International Brigade was edited by Irish Brigader Frank Ryan,and I think I remember reading that it was published at about the same time as he was captured which would make it April 1938. Does anyone have access to this book and if so could you see if the lyrics printed are the same as the ones that I posted above?

I have read elsewhere that the words were printed in the Battalion or Brigade newspaper and it was there suggested that the words were quickly changed because the higher ranks did not like the implied criticism ( I shall have to track down where I read that).Do you Mike, or does anyone else,have access to Volunteer for Liberty or Our Fight so that an earlier publication could be checked?


In the Wikipedia article ( link above) it says of one early adapted version of the song

'According to scholar, Jim Jump, it was first published on 8 January 1939 in London in a booklet for an British Battalion reunion' Does anyone have the Jim Jump book which is here referred to?


Another point worth remarking on is that Rust's account mentions Alcala which indicates some of the background of another Spanish Civil War song, The Young Man From Alcala.

I have also just realised that today is the 71st anniversary of the official end of the Spanish Civil War.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 08:20 AM

After the initial battle they dug in at Jarama and the Republicans were there for ages as it dragged on.

The cookhouse song sounds like There is a happy land far far away , good for lots of parodies in lots of wars.


Didn't Ewan McColl, write the Old Man's Song . I heard it sung in a pub session recently with an added verse about Iraq and Afghanistan

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 04:08 PM

We've got my Dad's copy of The Brigade Book edited by Frank Ryan and signed by many of Sam's conmrades before they left Spain . I've also got Jim Jump's (JJ Jr) book and I'll have a look in both after Easter.. I'll have a look in Jason Gurney's book cos he was at Jarama too.


Incidentally a similar signed copy of The Brigade book which belonged to George Fletcher who was also a Commander and good friend of my Dad (They were married in a joint wedding in Manchester on this day April 1 1939), came up on ebay and we alerted his family who bought it. They don't know how it got out of his posession to an antique dealer in Crew. But it's in safe hands agin now.

Frank Grahame another Briader from The North East who died recently did a republished edition of that book which is often available from dealers. It was written as they were leaving Spoain so s not necessarily an acceptable history by modern standards but it is a living document and mention some of the men in Christy Moore's song including Frank himself.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 08:04 PM


THE SONG OF THE LINCOLN BATTALION


Composed by 4 Americans on the way to Spain, Feb14th 1937


Tune: Over There

Published in Canciones de Guerra de Las Brigadas Internacionales, Madrid 1937


We march, we Americans,
To defend our working class-
To defend democracy.and
Mow the fascists down like grass-
We're marching to victory-
Our hearts are set, our fists are clenched
A cause like ours can't fail but win-
The fascist steel will bend like tin
We give our word, they shall not pass!
No Pasaran!
We give our word they shall not pass!


Over here,over here,
Hear us cheer ,hear us cheer, over here!
Oh - the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,
To fight the fascists over here.
Over here,over here,
Hear us cheer ,hear us cheer, over here!
The Yanks are coming to fight the fascist,
And we won't go back till we beat them over here!

This Song of the Lincoln Battalion was collected by Ernst Busch for inclusion in the multi-language International Brigades songbook which he produced while he was in Spain. It does not get mentioned in the books about the Spanish Civil War and probably was not taken up by the volunteers themselves.It should not be confused with the song usually associated with the title, The Song of the Lincoln Battalion, which is an adaptation of Alex McDade's Jarama.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 07:20 AM


THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SPAIN


By Joe Mulheron

---

The following 6 posts about this song are consolidated and copied from an earlier Mudcat thread
thread.cfm?threadid=44455#654357
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SPAIN
From: Suffet - PM
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 09:07 PM

To the same tune of "Roddy McCorley" and "Sean South" is this song from the Spanish Civil War.

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SPAIN

For the James Connolly Column of the International Brigade Tune: "Roddy McCorley" (or "Sean South")

Oh, workers dear, did you hear our comrades' call to arms?
It echoed in the cities and it echoed on the farms,
In shipyard and in factory, and upon the fields of grain,
To defend our fellow workers on the battlefields of Spain.

John Riley was a trade union man, our shop floor he did lead,
He fought against the fascist thugs, he fought the bosses' greed,
And now he leads the Connolly Column of the bold Fifteenth Brigade,
And he's gone to fight the fascists on the battlefields of Spain.

Who will call the meeting now and who will take the chair?
And who will lead us out on strike when we demand our share?
For Johnny, brave young Johnny, at home shall not remain,
For he's gone to fight the fascists on the battlefields of Spain.

If fascist bullets won't permit our Wild Geese to come home,
Their tragic loss to Ireland we'll never cease to mourn,
For they fought for the Connolly Column in the bold Fifteenth Brigade,
And they died for the Spanish working class on the battlefields of Spain.


Great song!

--- Steve

---

--- Steve Subject: RE: Patriot Game
From: Suffet - PM
Date: 21 Feb 02 - 04:54 PM

I heard "Battlefields of Spain" sung by three men in a pub -- the King's Head, I believe -- in Galway in 1987. I asked one of them to sing it again so I could write down the words. That's all I know about the song. I never heard it before or since.

--- Steve

---

Subject: RE: Patriot Game
From: MartinRyan - PM
Date: 21 Feb 02 - 03:09 AM

Suffet Haven't heard that Spanish Civil War song before. Looks like it was intended to go to the "Bantry Girl's lament" air, appropriately enough, rather than "Patriot game".

Regards

---

Subject: RE: Patriot Game
From: Suffet - PM
Date: 21 Feb 02 - 09:47 AM

"Battlefields of Spain" is set to the tune of "Sean South" or "Roddy McCorley." I mentioned it in this thread because the discussion turned to the late Mr. South and the song named after him.

--- Steve

---

Subject: RE: Patriot Game
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan - PM
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 05:23 AM

"The Battlefields of Spain" was written by Joe Mulheron of Belfast/Derry, using "Bantry Girl's Lament" as the model. He also included it in a set of balladsheets he produced many years ago - which had an interesting consequence. When he had finished screen-printing them on to 500 sheets of high quality paper ("A pound a sheet, damn it!", as he said)he realised he'd overlooked a typo in the spelling of "Connolly Column"! This explains why, during a run of Spanish Civil War songs at the recent Inishowen Singing Festival, Frank Harte was heard to call on Joe to "Give us the one about the Con-ON-olly Column!"! Regards

---

Subject: RE: Patriot Game
From: Suffet - PM
Date: 15 Jun 02 - 07:52 AM

Martin:

Job well done in tracing the origins of "The Battlefields of Spain"! Thanks.

--- Steve

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 23 April 10

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SPAIN / THE CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN

By JOE MULHERON with amendments and additions by Pol MacAdaim (and others unknown?)

I have begun a new thread to try and establish the origin and history of this song which seems to have developed into two songs. THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SPAIN / THE CIVIL WAR IN SPAIN

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 04:53 PM


BRIGADER BART VAN DER SCHELLING AS A SINGER



Bart Van Der Schelling was a Dutch International Brigader who was badly injured fighting in Spain, after which he went to the United States where he performed and recorded songs about the Spanish Civil War during the 1940's. An earlier Mudcat thread reveals some aspects of his amazing life.


Bart Van Der Schelling

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 06:23 PM


EIGHT MEN

By Geoff Lawes

Eight men, from Hull, left families and friends,
To go and fight Franco in Spain,
Four returned safe, to the city once more,
But four by the fascists were slain.

CHORUS
Ay Carmela, they lie in your arms tonight,
Let them sleep on, 'til the darkness is gone,
We’ll take up their watch 'til it’s light.
Ay Carmela, they lie in your arms tonight,
Let them sleep on, 'til the darkness is gone,
We’ll take up their watch 'til it’s light

Jack Atkinson was Hull’s first volunteer,
A driver of lorries by trade,
He died at Jarama defending Madrid
In the ranks of the 15th Brigade.

CHORUS
Rob Wardle and Jim Bentley were mates,
They’d grown up in Hull side by side,
Together set out and journeyed to Spain,
And at Calaceite both died.

CHORUS
Morris Miller was killed, at Sierra Pandols,
Aged just twenty three when he fell.
His body lies buried at Hill 666,
Cut down by artillery shells.

CHORUS
Richard Mortimer and Joe Latus returned,
Bernard Wilson and Sam Walters too,
But four men remain in the soil of Spain,
Salud camaradas,salud!

© G Lawes June 2008

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 06 Jul 10 - 05:02 PM

I have just discovered that Geoff Parry has also put up on YouTube the other Spanish Civil War song that I sang at the Memorial meeting for the International Brigades on Saturday,03/07 2010. Here is the linkEIGHT MEN.
Thanks Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 03 Apr 10 - 02:14 PM


WE CAME TO SUNNY SPAIN

We came to sunny Spain,
To make the people smile again,
And to drive the fascist bastards,
From the hill and from the plain,
Oh the Ri, Oh the Ri
Oh the Rio, Rio, Rio, Ha, Ha, Ha!

I have seen these described as the words to the British Battalion's Marching Song.
Does anyone have more information.
Are there any more words?
Is the tune a well known tune or an original?
Is it mentioned in any books?

It is mentioned at the end of this Guardian Interview with Brigader George Wheeler who was the inspiration for the Na Mara song THE BITE which is in the Song List above,

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 18 Apr 10 -

Oh we came to sunny Spain,
To help the people smile again,
And to show the fascist bastards,
That their fight was all in vain,
Oh the Ri, oh the Ro
Oh the Rio, Rio, Rio, Ha, Ha, Ha

Mussolini had some tanks,
And Franco taught 'em swell,
But our anti-tankers showed 'em,
When they blew them all to hell.
Oh the Ri, oh the Ro,
Oh the Rio, Rio, Rio, Ha, Ha, Ha.

These are the words sung by Brigader Paddy Doyle in a BBC radio programme written by Roy Palmer called IN OUR HEARTS WERE SONGS OF HOPE.This programme was broadcast on 13/07/1986.
Thanks to Roy Palmer.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 07:25 PM


AUSTRALIA AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

What about Australia? Are there any songs about Australian International Brigaders? There were 66 volunteers from AustraliaAussies in The Spanish Civil War by David Leach

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 11 Apr 10

This is a link to another Mudcat thread which takes up this issue Australia and the Spanish Civil War

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 03:23 PM

BALLAD OF HEROES

Dear Geoff Lawes,

I understand from the IBMT that you are collecting songs about the Spanish Civil War.

The attached was not a popular song, but it was performed at the concert to mark the return of the last British Briagders from Spain in 1939.

Best,

Andy Croft


Ballad of Heroes

The premiere of Ballad of Heroes was part of the 1939 'Festival of Music and the People'. It was organised by a team comprising the poet Randall Swingler, the composer Alan Rawsthorne, John Allen, Parry Jones, Margaret Leona and representatives of the London Labour Choral Union, Labour Stage and the London Co-operative Societies' Joint Education Committee. Alan Bush was the chairman, Edward Clark (secretary of the ISCM) the organising secretary and Will Sahnow the treasurer. The Festival was attended by over 10,000 people ; more than 1,000 people took part.

The Festival consisted of three concerts. The first was a performance, on Saturday 1 April at the Royal Albert Hall, of Music and the People, a historical pageant written by Swingler and set to music by twelve composers - Vaughan Williams, Arnold Cooke, Elizabeth Lutyens, Victor Yates, Edmund Rubbra, Erik Chisholm, Christian Darnton, Frederic Austin, Norman Demuth, Alan Bush, Elizabeth Maconchy and Alan Rawsthorne. Paul Robeson and Parry Jones were the principal singers, but there were five hundred other voices too - from twenty-three London Co-operative choirs (the Rhondda Unity Male Voice Choir also sang). There were a hundred dancers. Arnold Goldsborough was on the Albert Hall organ, while Alan Bush himself conducted the People's Festival Wind Band. The decor was by Michael Ross and Barbara Allen, and the Pageant was directed by John Allen.

The second concert was on 3 April at the Conway Hall, where the Fleet Street Choir conducted by TB Lawrence, sang works by Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger, Zoltan Kodaly, Hans Eisler and Schonberg. 'Medvedeff and his Balalaika Orchestra' performed popular Soviet songs.

The third concert was on Wednesday 5 April, at the Queen's Hall. The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Constant Lambert, (leader George Stratton) were joined by 300 voices from twelve Co-operative and Labour choirs. The concert was the occasion for the first public performance in Britain of Bush's Piano Concerto (Swingler's text sung by Dennis Noble, with Bush at the piano) and the premiere of Benjamin Britten's Ballad of Heroes. Written to mark the return of the last British volunteers from Spain, and to honour the men of the British Battalion who did not return, the libretto was by Auden and Swingler. Ballad of Heroes opens with Swingler's stately 'Funeral March' :

You who stand at doors, wiping hands on aprons,
You who lean at the corner saying : 'We have done our best,'
You who shrug your shoulders and you who smile
To conceal your life's despair and its evil taste,
To you we speak, you numberless Englishmen,
To remind you of the greatness still among you
Created by these men who go from our towns
To fight for peace, for liberty, and for you.
They were men who hated death and loved life,
Who were afraid, and fought against their fear !
Men who wished to create and not to destroy,
But knew the time must come to destroy the destroyer.
For they have restored your power and pride,
Your life is yours, for which they died.

This was followed by part of Auden's 'It's Farewell to the Drawing-room's Civilised Cry,' the beguiling, handsome voice of the Devil who has 'broken parole' - the voice of Fascism and War. The third movement combined texts by both Swingler and Auden. The chorus sang verses by Auden from On the Frontier ('They die to make men just/ And worthy of the earth') as the lowered flags of the British Battalion were carried into the hall and Walter Widdop's tenor voice sang Swingler's lovely
recitative :

Still tho' the scene of possible Summer recedes,
And the guns can be heard across the hills
Like waves at night : though crawling suburbs fill
Their valleys with the stench of idleness like rotting weeds,
And desire unacted breeds its pestilence.
Yet still below the soot the roots are sure
And beyond the guns there is another murmur,
Like pigeons flying unnotic'd over continents
With secret messages of peace : and at the centre
Of the wheeling conflict the heart is calmer,
The promise nearer than ever it came before.

The above information was kindly supplied to me by Andy Croft and here is a sound sample Ballad of Heroes

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 06:14 PM

ABRAHAM LINCOLN WALKS AGAIN
By Tony Saletan

Does anyone have the lyrics or more information about a song by Tony Seletan called Abraham Lincoln Walks Again?
Here is a link to a site with some information and the facility to play a bit of the song
George & Ruth--Songs and Letters of the Spanish Civil War CD,Tony Saletan et al Click on the ► symbol 23 to hear a performance extract.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 06:29 PM

NON-INTERVENTION
Amirah Inglis, Australians in the Spanish Civil War, page 26, refers to a Sydney University songbook, Dirt Cheap, from 1938, which had the lyrics of Non-Intervention, to be sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda. Inglis gives bits and pieces of the lyrics:

Once a jolly Franco started up a civil war
Liking himself as the top dog you see
....
Aeroplanes from Italy are raining bombs on wrecked Madrid
Gunners from the Volga side are firing merrily
And the League still declares, with the simple faith of infancy
Non-intervention's a reality.

Apparently the song had a go at all the parties to the dispute, but above all, the League of Nations.

---

From: GeoffLawes -
Date: 14 Apr 10 -

Does anyone know more of the words?

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 08:22 PM

NEW ZEALAND AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Does anyone have this book,

Kiwi Companeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War by Mark Derby?

If so has it got anything about songs or singing in it?

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 14 Apr 10 -
There is now a separate thread on New Zealand
NEW ZEALAND AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Bruce Barthol
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 01:17 PM

BADAJOZ
By Bruce Barthol

Hello Geoff,

I suppose you have Taste Of Ashes from Spain In My Heart. There's another song, Badajoz, which like Taste Of Ashes is from the SF Mime Troupe's play Spain '36. I put it out on my cd, and have performed it at the vet's events and other places.
Salud,
Bruce

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 09:37 AM

NO PASARAN

By Gary Kaye

I have just discovered this song on YouTube.
It is obviously a fairly recent song. Does anyone know any more about the song or the singer? Was anyone at the performance?

NO PASARAN

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,John Fisher
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 04:39 PM

I WANT TO GO HOME

My dad was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (see Harry Fisher, Comrades, Tales of a Brigadista in the Spanish Civil War, University of Nebraska Press, 1997).

He loved Viva La Quince Brigada, and the other SCW songs. But he always said that's not actually what the guys sang in Spain. The song he remembered best, and still loved to sing decades later was a remake of an old WWI song with the lyrics...

I want to go home, I want to go home
Machine guns they rattle and cannons they roar
I don't want to go to the front any more
So take me over the sea
Where the fascists can't get at me
Oh, my, I'm too young to die
I want to go home

I've never seen the song recorded.

John Fisher
[e-mail]

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 08:34 PM
Hi GUEST John Fisher,

I have just come across this very song in Michael Petrou's book,RENEGADES, about the Canadian volunteers in Spain. Below are the words as Petrou writes them and you will see that one or two of the words are slightly different.

I want to go home,
I don't wanna die
Machine guns they rattle
The cannons they roar
I don't want to go to the front any more

Oh take me over the sea
Where Franco can't get at me
Oh! My! I'm too young to die
I wanna to go home!

Petrou's footnote to these lyrics says he got them from Irving Weissman who was being interviewed by Mac Reynolds, circa 1965 and that the interview is now kept in The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio Archive.

This song is based on a World War One song written by a Canadian called Gitz Rice and here is some more information about the original songwriter and song.
LINK TO ORIGINAL SHEET MUSIC
Newspaper Cutting 'THE STORY OF GITZ RICE'
OBITURARY of GITZ RICE

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 08:34 PM

QUESTIONS THAT STILL NEED ANSWERS

---

JIM CARROLL's father sang a song including the fragment :
....... from Gandesa to the sea.
And keep your bloody head down and don't shoot me.

Can anyone give us the rest?

---

Does anyone have the lyrics or more information about a song by Tony Seletan called Abraham Lincoln Walks Again?
George & Ruth--Songs and Letters of the Spanish Civil War CD,Tony Saletan et al Click on the ► symbol 23 to hear a performance extract.

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 08:45 PM

CANADA AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR


The opening few paragraphs of Chapter 9 of Michael Petrou's book called RENEGADES are about singing among the Canadian Brigaders.He says:

'Singing was a popular pastime among volunteers in the International Brigades, as it has always been for soldiers in any army. At night Canadians could occasionally hear Moors or Spaniards singing in the trenches opposite them. A few of the Internationals even had guitars and other musical instruments. Most of their songs were generic, if beautiful, odes to fighting fascism and working-class solidarity. Some were sung in Spanish; some were not. The American Finn Carl Syvanen recalls that in the predawn gloom before the internationals launched their attack on Brunete, a Canadian nicknamed K.O. because of his boxing talents broke the tension by shouting out the lyrics of Robert Service's classic poem " the Shooting Of Dan McGrew"." A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon," he sang reciting the story of a barroom shooting that happened one frozen night during the Yukon gold rush to several hundred men about to sweep across a scorching Spanish plain to attack a village bearing the familiar name of Canada. (Villanueva de la Canada)

None of this was particularly out of the ordinary in a war that had such an international character, and it certainly wasn't anything to worry the commanders and political commissars of the internationals in Spain. But some Caanadians imported songs that soon caused consternation among their political bosses, such as this marching song:

I want to go home,
I don't wanna die
Machine guns they rattle
The cannons they roar
I don't want to go to the front any more

Oh take me over the sea
Where Franco can't get at me
Oh! My! I'm too young to die
I wanna to go home!

Irving Weisseman, a political commissar and leading American communist in Spain, decided, along with his fellow commissars, that it was unacceptable for anti-fascist volunteers to sing such lyrics and tried to stamp out the song.

" We commissars had a hell of a time because we had to fight that song," he said. "At least we thought- we were very solemn and straight-laced - we thought we had to fight it... This song became the chant of the people who just felt, what the hell were we there for?" Weissman did not say if the commissars' censorship campaign had any success, but it seems unlikely.

In truth there was little seditious about the song. According to Weissman, it originated with Canadian soldiers in the First World War and was simply adapted to Spain.'

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 19 Apr 10 - 02:37 PM

BRIGADER MILES TOMALIN AS A PERFORMER

Miles Tomalin had a musical group and there's a well known picture. I think they were the antitank crew and a bit 'eccentric'. i've seen photos witha mandolin and recorder.

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 19 Apr 10 - 08:29 PM
Hi Mike, yes I've also seen that picture of Miles Tomalin playing the recorder with the anti-tank battery where someone,unnamed is playing the mandolin - it is in James Hopkins book INTO THE HEART OF THE FIRE, and some other books. Tomalin apparently inscribed his recorder with the names of the SCW battles in which he fought.

Does anyone know anything about the type of music he performed? I found this in the FolkTrax on-line catalogue


TOMALIN, Miles - England\ Songmaker\ 1971 -- ZOOM MUSIC JAM 1971 (M) Advent of Steam accomp Steve BENBOW (voc/ gtr) with Denny WRIGHT (bass) All comp songs HERE

which suggests a connection with folk music ,after the SCW at least.

---

From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 06:53 AM

He didn't inscribe 'This machine kills fascists did he' didn't Pablo Casals have it on his cello, before Woody Guthry's time ?? i seem to remeber a photo somewhere

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 07:57 PM

SONG OF THE AMERICAN CONSOL


Sung by Max Parker
On LP Al Tocar Diana, At Dawn Break: Songs From A Franco Prison
Folkways Records Album No FH 5435, 1982
FOLKWAYS RECORDING DETAILS Click on the ► symbol 106 to hear a performance extract.



CHORUS
Honey, honey, honey, honey, etc.
Comrades we love you, honey
Comrades we love you, honey
Love you in the springtime and the fall.
Comrades we love you, honey
Comrades we love you, honey, love you best of all,

"Oh the border is closed. You better turn back."
Were the words of the American consol.
(Words of the American consol.)
But we all laughed , 'cause we all knew
He was only straining his tonsil.

Oh the border is closed, and the guards are there.
Oh pray what can we do? (Pray what can we do?)
As you can see, our task must be,
To climb the Pyrenees.

Oh I had a dream the other night that put me in good humor.
(Put me in good humor.)
When I awoke, I found that dream,
Was just a lousy rumor

March on to kill the Fascist beast.
"Forward to the front we say". (" Forward to the front we say".)
At six o'clock our sergeant says,
"Forward to do K.P."


Excerpts From The Album Notes pdf


'Manana Song and Song of the American Consol may, in part, be parodies of American pop songs of the day. Other songs sung in the prison included current songs like Stardust and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, and various camp, folk and union songs.'

'Attributed to the singing group, the Convulsionaries, most of whom died in Spain.The songs chorus welcomes arriving Lincoln recruits, brave young men of goodwill who are hence "loved best of all".'


Does anyone recognise a popular song of the thirties of which this song could be a parody? The line 'Love you in the Springtime and the Fall'
makes me think of the song 'Little Eyes, I Love You' which I recall singing in pubs forty years ago down in St Just, Cornwall. The whole pub would be crowded and singing. The chorus of 'American Consol'would fit the tune of the chorus for 'Little Eyes' but I don't recall the tune for the verse part.

Does anyone know anything more about the Convulsionaries?

---

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 08:29 PM
I have done some Googling and found things which make me pretty sure that the American Consol is a parody of whichever song Little Eyes (or Little Lize) is itself based on.Here is a link to a site dealing with Cornish Folksongs which gives the Cornish lyrics and traces them back to a recording by THE DEEP RIVER BOYS issued in the 1950's but speculating that there was an earlier version.CORNISH LYRICS of LITTLE EYES
Here is a link to the singing of Little eyes in its Cornish version.
SINGING OF LITTLE EYES

If you compare the lyrics of American Consol and Little Eyes I am sure you will agree that there are too many similar phrases for these songs not to have a common source. Honey, honey, it convinces me.

Little Eyes
I dreamed a dream, the other night
The strangest dream of all
I dreamed I saw you kissing her
Behind the garden wall
Chorus:
And she said:
Little eyes I love you (honey!)
Little eyes I love you
I love you in the springtime and the fall (fall-fall-fall)
Little eyes I love you (honey!)
Little eyes I love you
I love you best of all.

I took my true love down the lane
Beneath the spreading pine
I put my arms around her waist
And pressed her lips to mine

And she said: (chorus)

I took her round to my back yard
To see my turtle dove
O tell me honey tell me true
Who is the one you love.

And she said: (chorus)

Does anyone recognise a common ancestor for these songs dating to the 1930's?

---

From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 07:27 AM

just dredged up

I had a dream the other night
The funniest dream of a-a-all
I dreamed I saw a great big man
behind the garden wall

Oh, Elize ah loves yah
Elize ah oves yah
ah loves you in the springtime and the the fa-a-a-all
Elize ah loves yah, Elize ah loves yah
Ah loves you the best of all.

I took her round to my backdoor ( or sometmes ' she came around to my bedside')
to see my turtle d-o-o-ove
Now tell me honey come tell me true
who is the one you love?
dah dah dah ' Elize etc

Repeat chorus started slow and built up to quite a few repeat choruses.

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 10:03 AM
I have found sheet music for HONEY/LITTLE 'LIZE dated 1898 HERE

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Guest-Tim Parker
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 11:05 PM

MANANA SONG

Sung by Max Parker
On LP Al Tocar Diana, At Dawn Break: Songs From A Franco Prison
Folkways Records Album No FH 5435, 1982 FOLKWAYS RECORDING DETAILS Then click on the ► symbol 108 to hear a performance extract.

There are many words in Spanish that we would like to know.
Dictionaries they are scarce as roses in the snow.
But there is one word in Spanish that you never ought to miss.
So listen carefully and you will find that it is this:
Manana. Manana. That old familiar cry.
Manana. Manana. We'll hear it 'til we die.
When will the kitchen have in stock a grapefruit or banana?
Cook shakes his hear and whispers low that mystic word, "Manana."
Manana si, ahora no. No tengo cambio.
Regancha, regancha, regancha. No hay, no hay, no hay.
Yo comprendo. Yo entiendo. Hablo, hablas, habla. Hablamos, hablais, hablan.

the following is an excerpt from notes to Al Tocar Diana, Max Parker, Folkways FW 05435:Album Notes pdf

Note: "I have no change" was in general reference to the currency complications in Republican sectors. Under conditions of the National Front's sabotage of currency basis, each village, town and city had to use different currencies. Hence, frequently, no change for out of town money!

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 07:05 PM

O'DUFFY'S IRONSIDES

By Diarmuid Fitzpatrick, 1936

Possibly amended by Brendan Behan

Air: The Valley of Knockanure. Tune available in Digitrad HERE


Let loose my fierce crusaders,
O'Duffy wildly cried,
My grim and bold mosstroopers,
That poached by Shannon side,
Their shirts are blue, their backs are strong,
They've cobwebs on the brain,
And if Franco's moors are beaten.
My Irish troops remain

In old Dublin town my name is tarred,
On pavement and slum wall.
In thousands on her Christian Front,
The starving children call.
But with my gallant ironsides,
They call to us in vain,
For we're off to slaughter workers in,
The sunny land of Spain.

At Badajo's red ramparts,
The Spanish workers died,
O'Duffy's bellowing Animal Gang,
Sing hymns of hate with pride.
The sleuths that called for Connolly's blood,
And Sean MacDiarmuid's too,
Are panting still for worker's gore,
From Spain and far Peru.

Fall in! Fall in! O'Duffy cried,
There's work in Spain to do,
A harp and crown we all will gain,
And shoot the toilers through.
In Paradise an Irish harp,
A Moor to dance a jig,
A traitor's hope, a hangman's rope,
An Irish peeler's pig.

The lyrics above and the information below is taken from the article The Authorship Of The Somhairle Macallistair Ballads by H. Gustav Klaus, Irish University Review, Vol 26,No 1 (Spring – Summer, 1996), pp. 107-117

Dairmuid Fitzpatrick subsequently became involved in Republican politics and from some time in the nineteen thirties organised Na Fianna Eireann, the Irish Republican Youth Movement. It was here that he would have met the young Brendan Behan (born 1923). One of the many songs in Behan's unfinished play Richard's Cork Leg is an adapted version of Fitzpatrick's ballad "O'Duffy's Ironsides", originally published in The Worker of 1936 as " Brigade Ballad No3" and signed, not Somhairle Macallistair, but " Tom Moore junior.


Behan's version retains four of the original eight stanzas, but presents them in a different order with minor amendments in several lines." A harp and crown we all will gain", for example, originally ran " A martyr's crown we all will gain". The Hero sings the ballad as a " welcome" to one of the Blueshirts "that was out fighting against the Communists in Spain". This is exactly in keeping with the original intention of the song. I am,of course, not suggesting here a direct handling down of the material- Fitzpatrick was much too secretive about his literary exploits- merely that "O'Duffy's Ironsides" passed into leftwing folklore of the day and may have been sung by the Republican Scouts on a number of occasions.And in the process, as happens with oral transmissions, the song was to some extent reshaped.

Alternatively Behan may have spotted " O'Duffy's Ironsides" in publications for sale in the Communist Bookshop in Ormond Quay, which he used to frequent after school.


Guaranteed, Ronnie Drew, Record Cover and Track ListClick the triangle by the title to hear extract

INFORMATION ABOUT RICHARD'S CORK LEG

The Tune is described as Traditional: can anyone name it please?

---

Subject: RE: Tune Req: O'Duffy's Ironsides, on Ronnie Drew LP THREAD LINK HERE
From: Fred McCormick - PM
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 12:18 PM

The tune is The Valley of Knockanure.
Thanks Fred,Regards, Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 04:02 PM

My dad said they made up a version of O'Slattery's Mounted Foot I may be able to trawl it up. He sang the O'Slattery version and I've got a letter from the bereaved parent of a Brigader whose son had told them in a letter of Sam's comic songs.

Oh you've heard of Julius Caesar and the great Napoleon too
And how the Turks and Russians beat the French at Waterloo
But there's a page of history that stll reamins uncut
and that's the gallant story of O'Slattery's mounted foot. etc

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 04:08 PM

There's a Wikipedia entry on the Percy French song

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 27 Apr 10 - 01:19 PM

I meant great singers!:)


By the way , I wrote a song based around a verse from the poem by John Lepper, Battle of Jarama 1937.

The second verse:

Death stalked the olive trees
Picking his men
His leaden finger beckoned
Again and again


it always gripped me from being a kid.


All I know is that he was a journalist who was already in Spain, then joined up and was sent to the front, was 'traumatised' and went AWOL and was then imprisoned and later repatriated in September 1937. He returned to Britain but there seem to be no record of his later life. Has anyone any details or contacts etc?

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Duncan Longstaff
Date: 08 May 10 - 08:08 AM

BRIGADER JOHN LONGSTAFF AND SPANISH CIVIL WAR MUSIC

My father was Johnny Longstaff who was the runner for No2 Company of the British Battalion of the 15th International Brigade, He had 3 records of the Spanish Civil war Songs these were the two Folkways Lp's which include some songs in English and the Ian Campbell Ep Songs of Protest which included "Viva La Quince Brigada" sung in Spanish.
My father told me that Alan Bush the Marxist composer thought that my father would have a fine voice when he heard his deep north east accent, how wrong, he was affectionately known by the family as "foghorn" when he tried to sing.

I see there is a thread regarding Miles Tomalin and the photograph of the Anti Tank Battery taken in late 1937, I have a copy of this photo' my father has indicated some of those present, left to right in backgound 1)Allan Gilchrist,2)Chris Smith 3,4,5,6,7,)? 8) Miles Tomalin with recorder 9)? in foreground 10)? 11) Johnny Longstaff 12) Otto Estenson. Remainder unknown.
From my dads unpublished memoirs he records just before the battle of the Ebro "Folk singing was also appreciated by all present, this was sometimes organised by Miles Tomalin who served in the Brigades Anti Tank Battery, and his playing of the penny whistle was legendary".unfortunately does not mention which songs these were.

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 09 May 10 - 09:39 AM
Duncan Longstaff: thank you for your post about your father's SCW records. If anyone is interested in seeing the songs included on these records the following links will give track lists.

SONGS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR VOLUME 1 FOLKWAYS RECORDS

SONGS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR VOLUME 2 FOLKWAYS RECORDS,1966

SONGS OF PROTEST EP - Ian Campbell Folk Group Topic Records, 1962

Your information about Miles Tomalin and the musicians in the anti-tank battery was interesting - I have not seen such a complete list of the men's names before. By chance the photo you refer to is on the cover of the new book Antifascistas, and Amazon have a picture of the cover which you can see using the following link:
PHOTO OF THE ANTI -TANK MUSICIANS OF THE 15th BRIGADE
It is not the clearest reproduction of the photo but it is the best I found available - if anyone can give a link to a better image then please do.

Regards, Geoff

---

From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 13 May 10 - 09:54 AM

hi Duncan. my dad talked about yours. A runner was a tough job and he admired their guts! Terry Ward was one who lost a leg aged about 18 and he lived with us in Manchester for quite a while afterwards. People were very supportive of each other after Spain.

Thanks for info on that picture it's more names I didn't have too. I just read Antifascistas - it came out to accompany a very good travelling exibition put together by IBMT members.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 09 May 10 - 07:06 PM

SONG FOR JAMES MOIR

By Ian McLaren


"I've travelled far to join the fight.
Hiked across the Pyrenees, under dead of night.
My country's failed me, they had no right.
That's the reason here is where I lay my head tonight.


I'm only 20, my future bright.
But if I don't reach 21, I'll die knowing we were right.
My country's failed me, they had no right.
That's the reason here is where I lay my head tonight.


In this dark hole how do you think I feel?
The fear of death it haunts me as I hear my comrades squeal.
My country's failed me, they had no right.
That's the reason here is where I lay my head tonight.


I close my eyes and dream of better days.
And I wonder how these fascists justify their wicked ways.
So heads of state, unite in shame
And may your sleep be troubled by your role within this game.


My country's failed me, they had no right.
That's the reason here is where I lay my head tonight."


WEB SOURCE OF LYRICS
This song seems to have been written for a production presented at Perth Museum and Art Gallery on Thursday May 10th 2007 in honour of Perthshire's International Brigaders and was narrated by the historian Paul Phillipou.

I am trying to find out more information about the song but if anyone can add anything please do.

Regards, Geoff

---

From: GUEST,IanMcLaren - PM
Date: 20 May 10 - 03:05 PM

I am the writer of the song "Song for James Moir". It was written specially for the production "Not to a Fanfare of Trumpets" and was my response to reading the script of the production and trying to get inside the mind of the young volunteer James Moir. The song has since been performed at numerous fundraising events with guitar and harmonica accompaniment. The lyrics attempt to voice the frustration felt at the UK Government's non-interventionist stance and highlight how to this day heads of state can abdicate responsibility when it suits them to do so. I have not as yet recorded the song as it is a markedly different style to that which I usually write for my band Wang Dang Delta.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 May 10 - 03:25 PM

UNCONSOLIDATED AND MOST RECENT POSTS

---

FITBA NOT WAR

By Frank Rae

At Wednesday's Songwriting Competition at Edinburgh Folk Club just this week, third prize went to Frank Rae for his song "Fitba Not War" - also inspired by the Spanish Civil War.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 07:36 AM

Thank you Tattie Bogle, I have found Frank Rae's My Space and although the SCW song is not up there yet I guess he will put it up some time and so here is a link for future use :
http://www.myspace.com/frankrae2

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 11 Jun 10 - 12:29 PM

Jim Jump told me in an email that a band called Foundlings have recorded a song dedicated to Brigader Bob Doyle called 'Salud Brigadista'. I have found a snatch of it on this site:
Salud Brigadista - FOUNDLINGS
If anyone can supply the lyrics or more information, please do.

Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Jun 10 - 03:09 PM

Thanks for your link re Frank Rae, Geoff: still not put that song up, but hopefully he will do so in due course.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GUEST,Andy Roberts
Date: 09 Jul 10 - 06:04 AM


GERNIKA

By Andy Roberts

Hello, I was pointed to this thread by a report in a copy of the International Brigade Memorial Trust Newsletter passed on to me by Bob Cash in Romford.

I visited the north of Spain in 2003 and happened upon a meeting in the town square at Guernica Lomo to commemorate the day that town was firebombed in 1937. It was of course, a very emotional experience. The next day I began writing the song which I have titled "Gernika" interspersing the history with my own travel story. I've since recorded the song and published the lyrics both in English and in Basque which can be viewed at

Gernika

From the above link you can listen to the recording, download the mp3 file, read about it, view the lyrics and a youtube video of a live performance.

If there's any other information you require please ask.

Andy Roberts

Thanks for posting your song Andy -Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 14 Jul 10 - 08:10 AM

Hi Geoff
Our dolores said you sang the Clem beckett sng at this year's IB memorial in London, well domne. We couldn't get this year due to family commitments. See you in Liverpool?

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 07:43 AM

I just found this about Yellow Roses following a link from Jon Boden's Folk Song a Day project.

http://www.afolksongaday.com/2010/07/14/yellow-roses/#comments
It says it was written before The SCW in English. Interesting

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 07:45 AM

Just thought as I sang it to myself , Scarborough Fair so did Adam Faith put that tune to it?

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 11:16 AM

Hi Mike thank you for that information and link about Yellow Roses. I have changed the address which you gave into a clickable link now.

The suggestion on the site that the song originated as a prize winning poem BEFORE the Spanish Civil War is very interesting. It is contained in a post on that site by SRD which can be seen directly.

HERE

but the whole thread on Jon Boden's site is worth looking at not least because Jon gives a very good rendition of the song.

I have tried to follow that up on the net and have found a poet of the suggested authorial name, J. Hooker Hamersley, in a search list which has Yellow Roses and other poems listed next to his name – but that is all far too inconclusive to be enlightening. I have emailed SRD in case he/she has a source for the original information.

I think that if Adam Faith was singing that set of words to the same tune that Jon Boden uses then he also probably got it from the Forest School Camps.

Regards, Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 07:59 PM

Adam Faith's words to Yellow Roses are the same as Jon Boden's but not the same as the lyrics Jackie de Shannon sang as Little Yellow Roses,whose words are credited on the recrd to Trevor Peacock. As I said above, in the consolidated section dealing with Yellow Roses, this Jackie de Shannon version was probably a re-written version for the pop market. It also possibly has the other lyric as its original. I have been given the email address of the theatrical agents for Trevor Peacock and have sent them a message asking them to pass on my request that Trevor Peacock help us to sort out the provenance of the song(s).

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 11:29 AM

There was a suggestion culled from Jon Boden's Folksong A Day site ( link above)that the origin of the song Yellow Roses was in a competition winning poem published prior to the Spanish Civil War.I contacted the person who suggested this and she said she got this idea from a book in the Glasgow Reference library which refered to a poem called Yellow Roses by J. Hooker Hamersley which had won a competition although no words to the poem were given. I tried to contact Glasgow Reference library unsuccesfully but in the process was referred to the Ask a Librarian Service.

The ASK A LIBRARIAN web service found me the following link to a volume of poems called Seven Voices by J. Hooker Hamersley, published in 1898 and published now on the web by Google Books. On page 3 is a poem called Yellow Roses but its words bear no relationship to the lyrics of the song we are discussing in either of its two recorded versions. If you want to see for yourself click the link and then click the PRINT option on the left side of the page and then the pdf download option which appears.
HAMERSLEY'S Yellow Roses

The same informant gave me the link to Trevor Peacock's agent and I am still awaiting a response to my enquiry in that direction.

Regards, Geoff

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: MC Fat
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 12:37 PM

Geoff saw Sue at Saddleworth she has 'Another Dirt Track' on tape she will look it out and put on a CD

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 19 Jul 10 - 06:59 PM

Thanks Jim

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Red and White Rabbit
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 06:12 AM

Hi

On holiday in a fortnight and will get round to swapping song Another Dirt Track from cd to MP3 for posting somewhere for whoever it is that wants to listen.

I was in contact with Clem's family in Saddleworth when researching for the song. They sent me a couple of newspaper clippings about their unsung hero and a photo of him with the lion cub he used to drive round with on the back of his bike.

Thanks MCFAT for requesting a song about this amazing record breaker and humanitarian.

Sue

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 01:47 PM

On another post on Little Yellow Roses I put some of the words of Hamersley's Yellow Roses poem 1896 which I got off Google Books..

Very corny and not related to this one at all.

I hope Trevor Peacock comes up trumps!

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 07:15 AM

Has anyone traced Sheila Lewis who is said to have set a poem to music.

I've asked on a separate thread by her name

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: Q
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 05:48 PM

Huesca
John Cornford, 1915-1936

Heart of the heartless world,
Dear heart, the thought of you
Is the pain in my side,
The shadow that chills my view.

The wind rises in the evening,
Reminds that autumn is near.
I am afraid to lose you,
I am afraid of my fear.

On the last mile to Huesca,
The last fence for our pride,
Think so kindly, dear, that I
Sense you at my side.

And if bad luck should lay my strength
Into the shallow grave,
Remember all the good you can;
Don't forget my love.

A family friend who was in the Civil War would recite this poem, written by one who died there. I don't know if it was set to music, but it is impressive.
He found it in an old WW2 Pelican, for the Armed Forces; An Anthology of War Poetry, compiled by Julian Symons. I have his copy, falling apart but still readable.

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 09:59 AM

Theres a link on my Facebook to the exhibition and songs at the Antifascistas exhibition at The People's History Museum in Manchester last Saturday

Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: mikesamwild
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 10:01 AM

Heres the link

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000680490476