THE SKELETONS OF QUINTO

By Christopher Guest
THE SKELETONS OF QUINTO YouTube video sung by The Folksmen


I worked the fields my father worked
From dawn until setting sun
My calloused hands and wind-burned face
Have marked me as a man
Who has no voice, no rights, no hope
No place to call his own
And the skeletons of Quinto call me home

The silver tentacles of the moon's rays caught me
The deathly silence of the mountains chill me to the bone
And the skeletons of Quinto call me home

If I lived to be a hundred, I won't know me Papa's plight
The cruelty of the master's whip
The horrors of the night
He braved them all and stood his ground
The bravest ever known
And the skeletons of Quinto call me home

I know that somehow, in the world,
The workers must be free
The toil and sweat, and tyranny, the fascist jeu d'esprit
Will only serve to keep us down, and make the bourgeoisie
And the skeletons of Quinto call me home


This song is from Christopher Guest's folkumentary A Mighty Wind and is clearly taking the Miguel out of the Spanish Civil War song genre. Towards the end of the film's concert section, The Folksmen are required to fill in time when the next performer goes missing. The banjo player announces an encore: a song about the Spanish Civil War called The Skeletons of Quinto. The bass player then talks at length about the song but because the missing singer then turns up they never actually perform it.

This is interesting because Christopher Guest, who co-wrote, directed and acted in the film as the Folksmen's banjo player is the nephew of David Guest, a young mathematician who was killed fighting with the International Brigades after the crossing of the Ebro in 1938.
I see in the film's credits that Christopher Guest is credited with the words to The Skeletons of Quinto and the Folksmen with its performance. This companion Mudcat link,A Mighty Wind & Spanish Civil War Song , confirms that the song was relased on a soundtrack album. I see from his Wikipedia entry,HERE, that Christopher Guest plays mandolin and guitar - does he play banjo in the film?