JARAMA
By Alec (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

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

On the subject of Alec 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 Alec McDade lyrics? The Wikipedia article HERE says:

20/08/15 '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?

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,From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Aug 2015
I have now checked in a facsimile copy of The Book of the XV International Brigade published by Warren and Pell in 2003 and the words are exactly the same as those which I gave above.

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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.

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From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 10:31 AM
Here are some performances of Jarama/ Jarama Valley with a variety of lyrics and tunes:
EWAN Mc LENNAN
PETE SEEGER & THE ALMANAC SINGERS
WOODY GUTHRIE
ARLO GUTHRIE & PETE SEEGER
DAVID ROVICS
The Wakes