ONLY FOR THREE MONTHS
Music: J.Tejedor / Words: Paul McNamara
Performed by Na mara More Information Here
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.youtube.com/watch?v=uSGlCcjcd2Y&feature=youtu.be OR
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
From: Herga Kitty - PM
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 07:47 PM
Na Mara gave us a brilliant evening at Herga on Monday, and I especially appreciated "only for 3 months", because it made me think of my mother saying her final goodbye to her father in Berlin when she escaped to England in 1938.
Kitty