ADELANTE (THE BALLAD OF CLEM BECKETT)



By Joe Solo


On Facebook, Joe Solo recently posted a link to the words and a recording of his new song about Lancashire International Brigade volunteer and speedway rider Clem Becket.
https://www.facebook.com/joesolomusic/posts/10211916440327989
Inspired by the play 'Dare Devil Rides to Jarama', Townsend Productions masterpiece about the life and death of Clem Beckett and his friend Christopher Caudwell (Spriggy) fighting fascism on Suicide Hill February 12th 1937. Beckett was a famous speedway rider and Caudwell a poet, and they fought to the death holding up an enemy advance so that their comrades could escape to safety in the valley behind.

Hey Spriggy, I'm glad that it's you here
It's better to die with a friend
You were there from the start back on Kings Street
And here you are now at the end
Fate mixed our lives up together
And set us down on the same side
A speedway star fighting for words here
And a poet on a dare devil ride

Chorus:
Adelante- forward forever
Adelante- you must stand your ground
Adelante- forward forever
Forward forever and never back down

Hey Spriggy. the fascists are coming
But I'm damned if they're taking Madrid
'Adelante', I know that means 'forward'
It's been my motto since I was a kid
We must make our stand in this valley
In the olives, the scrub and the ash
And I swear by the oil on these fingers
No Pasaran- they shall not pass!
Chorus

Hey Spriggy, you're dead at my side now
And there's no-one to reload this gun
But I'll fire it until my last bullet
Cos there's no way in hell that I'll run
I guess what it all boils down to
Is the one lasting thing you can give
That's your life in the fight for our freedom
To die so that others might live

Chorus
credits
from Not On Our Watch, released January 1, 2018
Joe Solo
license
all rights reserved
https://joesolomusic.bandcamp.com/track/adelante-the-ballad-of-clem-beckett