Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War

Subject: Lyr Add: THE YOUNG MAN FROM ALCALA
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

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date:12 Aug 2015 -
Some discussion of the song is also to be found in a post to this thread Date: 06 Aug 15 - 09:48 PM under the heading Oh The Lincoln Boys Fought at Jarama (THE YOUNG MAN FROM ALCALA ) with a few posts which follow that.

Subject: Lyr Add: ANOTHER VALLEY
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 http://alisonmcmorland.com/

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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

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Subject: RE: Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War
From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 06:38 AM

I saw Geordie McIntyre at Whitby Folk Week in August and he very generously gave me permission to reproduce the lyrics and the notes to his song Another Valley as they appear in INVERORAN: Songs by Geordie McIntyre, published in Great Britain by Lyngham House, St Ervan, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7RT. ISBN 1 903963 20 6

Another Valley

Words © Geordie McIntyre, ISA Music, 1986.
Tune: Ian Duncan

Across the valley – the sleeping warrior,
Crimson, hard against the sky.
Shadows dance across the hillside:
Crystal spirits that never die.

In time of need we made the journey
To join the worthy folk of Spain.
'No Pasaran' - we marched thegither.
A camaraderie of pain.

Empty eyes of children staring
On broken flesh and twisted bone.
The shameless tears of the fallen comrade
Dripping on the blood-red stone.

Shadows freeze as night is falling.
Visions fade in the setting sun.
Only the cry of the crystal spirit
Breaks the silence of the dawn.

The sun breaks o'er the Golden City.
Morning - shrouds soon disappear.
Flowers shine from a darkened corner,
A laverock rises in the air.

Iron hearts and fists of steel
Cannot smoor the vibrant voice
That sings for peace and cries for justice,
Calling us to make a choice.



No Pasaran: ' They shall not pass' (Spanish Republican slogan)
Laverock: skylark.
Smoor: smother

A song inspired by the reminiscences of the late Eddie Brown, a volunteer in the International Brigades which fought for democracy and against fascism in the Spanish Civil War( 1936 – 39), regarded by many as the prologue to World War Two. After one recording session Eddie and I went out on to the verandah of his high – rise flat in Glasgow and gazed North, in the fading sunset, across the Clyde Valley to the Campsie Hills. His comments about comrades who had died set up an echo of that 'other valley' – Jarama, Spain. This was the springboard for the song. Written in 1986. -------------------------------------------------------------------- A YouTube video of Geordie McIntyre & Alison McMoreland performing this can be reached using the following link Another Valley,Geordie McIntyre & Alison McMoreland

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: Lyr Add: AS I WALKED JARAMA VALLEY
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: Lyr Add: THE BITE (McNamara/Garcia)
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
AND HERE IN THE STUDIO

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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

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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: Lyr Add: LAURIE LEE'S SPAIN (SIXTY YEARS ON)
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: Lyr Add: CLEM BECKETT
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 sings "Clem Beckett" at the IBMT Rally, 3/7/10

© Geoff Lawes January 2010


Here are some links to further information about Clem Beckett
http://www.grahamstevenson.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44:clem-beckett&catid=2:b&Itemid=98
http://spartacus-educational.com/SPbeckett.htm
http://www.national-speedway-museum.co.uk/clem%20beckett.html

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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: Lyr Add: JUST ANOTHER DIRT TRACK
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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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From: Red and White Rabbit - PM
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: 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.



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)

YouTube Collection (various languages)

and One Hour of Spanish Republican Music

11 Songs of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)

Here is a link to three YouTube Videos < Historic Songs - Spanish Civil War 1, 2 and 3 >, presenting songs from both sides in the conflict

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ql0OJXpL4o

Subject: Lyr Add: CATALONIA
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!

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From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 28 June 11


CATALONIA
Words and music Phil and June Colclough

There's blue skies across the bay,
Sunlight on December days,
And white horses over the waves,
That fall on Catalonia,

The northern winter's dull and grey,
And peace so easily slips away,
And many's the young one fled away
To fight in Catalonia.

Barcelona's dressed in banners bright,
And ballad singers in the night,
With voices high they tell of the fight,
That breaks in Catalonia,

The world's eyes turn on Spain,
Where everyone's a child again,
And right and wrong it seems so plain,
On roads to Catalonia.

On mountain slopes in pallid sun,
Ragged soldiers sing a song,
The boy so soon becomes a man,
On hills in Catalonia,

And frost turns the trenches white,
And sentries shiver in the night,
And snipers kill in the early light,
From peaks in Catalonia.

There's sleepless nights and endless days,
When dice are thrown and cards are played,
The young one learns a soldier's ways,
On hills in Catalonia.

But there the soldier finds no fame,
And many will never see home again,
The lucky ones they catch the train,
For leave in Catalonia.

In railway cars the soldiers dream,
Of feather beds and Spanish wine,
With girls who're waiting by the line,
For trains in Catalonia,

In Barcelona no one speaks,
And tired soldiers find no peace,
And spies haunt the empty streets,
Of towns in Catalonia.

In river valleys and mountain sides,
Soldiers now are forced to hide,
The fate of Spain the world decides,
And that of Catalonia.

The sun sinks in the Spanish sky,
And darkness comes to hide the lie,
The young ones now must run or die,
On the fields of Catalonia.

But flowers bloom in the Spanish Spring,
And small birds they find their wings,
And hope sings of summer winds,
To those of Catalonia,

On old fields new seed is grown,
And not in vain the good die young,
For those of heart this song is sung,
For the child of Catalonia.


These lyrics were harvested from another Mudcat thread Lyr Req: Lost in Catalonia? (De Dannan) HERE
Another Mudcat Thread dealing with the song is HERE

Subject: Lyr Add: CONNOLLY'S REBEL SONG
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

LINK to sheet music here

---

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.

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 07:56 PM
I have received an interesting songbook of Spanish Civil War-related songs called THEIR SONGS NOT FORGOTTEN from Lynda Walker in Belfast. It was published in 2006, in honour of the men of the International Brigades and besides containing 22 songs and poems it also carries some interesting information about some of the songs which have not so far surfaced in this thread. I have Lynda's permission to post this information here and will do so in the following posts.

Connolly's Rebel Song

This is a workers' song written by James Connolly. It first appeared in 1903 in the May number of an Edinburgh paper, the Socialist. (*John McDonnell, 1979, p. 42–43.) The Irish adopted the song as their anthem during the fight against the fascists in Spain. At a meeting in Belfast on 17 May 2006 Manus O'Riordan said that his father, Michael O'Riordan, learnt the words of the song whilst he was fighting in Spain. In Connolly Column Michael writes: "The Scottish comrades sang a song that they had well preserved, but which at that time had almost disappeared in Ireland: Connolly's 'Rebel Song'." (p. 126)

*McDonnell, John (1979) SONGS OF STRUGGLE AND PROTEST. Dublin: Gilbert Dalton.

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: Lyr Add: BLEEDING HEARTS (Si Kahn)
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.

THE LYRICS AND NOTES IN SI KAHN SONGBOOK

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

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DUNDEE LASSIE (Mary Brooksbank)
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 11:48 AM

THE DUNDEE LASSIE

By Mary Brooksbank

This is the Mary Brooksbank song also known as Eh'm a Dundee Lassie.

---

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.

Dundee Lassie sung by Janet Jones

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: Lyr Add: LAURIE LEE'S SPAIN (SIXTY YEARS ON)
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)HERE 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: Lyr Add: SPANISH CIVIL WAR SONG (Phil Ochs)
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
YouTube SPANISH CIVIL WAR SONG Phil Ochs
Another YouTube Version

---

Subject: Phil Ochs Spanish Civil War Song
From: GeoffLawes
Date:08 Mar 16- 10:07 AM
In the recordings Phil Ochs acknowledges that his song is based on " a Spanish Civil War song". I think the tune is taken from the song "El Quinto Regimento", sometimes called " Venga Jeleo" Compare Here on YouTube
and Venga Jaleo HERE

Subject: Lyr Add: IF YOU TOLERATE THIS YOUR CHILDREN WILL..
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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHMRMXIyKIw
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 following link will give you many others to choose from MORE
 

Subject: Lyr Add: SPANISH BOMBS (The Clash)
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

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 08:07 PM

The following is an interesting extract about Joe Strummer and Woody Guthrie from Nora's Page of the Official Woody Guthrie Website dated May 2001. It is reproduced with the permission of The Woody Guthrie Foundation. The full text of Nora Guthrie's web posting can be read at the link HERE

But then, quite by accident, I came across a miscellaneous note on the site from one Brian Sheppard which referred to a Clash song 'Spanish Bombs' which was released on their London Calling record in 1979. Surprised and ever curious, I picked up a book about The Clash which I just happened to get from Billy Bragg for my birthday. Browsing through The Last Gang in Town by Marcus Gray (Owl Books), trying to find out about the song 'Spanish Bombs', I found instead that punk-rocker Joe (John Mellor) Strummer, Clash front man and songwriter, actually nicknamed himself "Woody" Mellor!

Gray goes on to explain; "Woody was the real-life Woody Guthrie, the hobo folksinger who traveled the USA in the Thirties.... 'Yeah, you could call us a folk group,' he (Mellor) told Sean OHagan when discussing the Clash in 1988. 'I came out of Woody Guthrie, in a way.' Indeed, upon his arrival in London John went one step further than Bob Dylan, who had merely borrowed Guthrie's singing voice and identity, by adopting the folk singer's name; for the best part of six years from September 1970 onwards, everyone who met him knew him as Woody."

Thanks to Tiffany Colannino,the Archivist at the Woody Guthrie Archives.

---

From: GeoffLawes
Date: 05 Jan 2011 - AM

WIKIPEDIA : Spanish Bombs entry

Subject: Lyr Add: OUR OPEN EYES COULD SEE NO OTHER WAY
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."

Mike Wild sings Our Open Eyes could See No Other Way on YouTube

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE YELLOW ROSES
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 07:15 PM

LITTLE YELLOW ROSES

---

Editorial Note added 31 July 2012
Below there is a letter from Trevor Peacock who wrote the song in 1962. He says that he does not recall that he wrote the song specifically about the Spanish Civil War but rather that it is about all freedom fighters.

---

---

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.

---

From: Fay - PM
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

---

From: mikesamwild - PM
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

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
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

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
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, 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).

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
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

---

From: mikesamwild - PM
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 01:47 PM
On another post on Little Yellow Roses (HERE) 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!

---

From: mikesamwild - PM
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

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 06:33 PM

ADAM FAITH'S LITTLE YELLOW ROSES on YouTube

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 06:40 PM
Fay Hield can be heard singing Little Yellow Roses on YouTubeHERE

From: GeoffLawes Date: 24 Dec 10
Details from where a library copy of the sheet music is lodged

---

From: GeoffLawes - PM
Date: 31 July 12

I have just received a reply to the letter which I wrote to Trevor Peacock enquiring about the origin of the song Little Yellow Roses I reproduce the letter below, in full .

Dear Geoff, Re-“Songs in English about the Spanish Civil War” What a wonderful subject! I hope your searching will lead to a book, or part of a book. I don’t think I can help much, but here goes… Around 56 years ago I was involved writing scripts, and then some songs for BBC TV. The pop world was in its infancy, and I wrote for, amongst others, Joe Brown, The Vernon Girls, Jess Conrad, and Adam Faith. I seem to remember writing Little Yellow Roses for a B side for Adam in about 1962. I wrote the tune and the lyrics, and John Barry did that particular arrangement, as I worked with him a lot. I hadn’t heard the song for half a century until your letter arrived. I don’t remember writing it for the Spanish Civil War specifically – it was a song for ALL freedom fighters really. So I’m afraid Fay Hield has made the wrong assumption. I’m now wondering if it’s registered with PRS, so I’d better check. I hope this clarifies the situation.

Yours, Trevor Peacock

There was a PS written on the back of the envelope which saidYes, fully documented with P.R.S.”Little Yellow Roses”

Thank you for giving us the provenance of your song Trevor.

Subject: Lyr Add: COME ALL YE ANTI-FASCISTS RALLY (B Cooney
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: 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: 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: 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: 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'Reilly

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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: Lyr Add: THE BATTLE OF GENDESA (The Limeliters)
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 10:50 PM

The Limeliters 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: Lyr Add: CLARENCE KAILIN (Si Kahn)
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

YouTube Video about Him
Obituary in The Volunteer

Television Obituary

Television Interview 11 days before death

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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: Lyr Add: JAMIE FOYERS
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 POSTING HERE

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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
Another Thread On The Song Here

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Jamie Foyers by MartinSimpson
Jamie Foyers by Cockersdale
Jamie Foyers by Robin Laing
Dick Gaughan singing Jamie Foyers
Dick Gaughan ‎-Dave Burland, Tony Capstick, – Jamie Foyers

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FROM AN OLDER MUDCAT THREAD (click BLUE LINK it to visit)
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: 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: Lyr Add: EDDIE'S SONG (Utah Phillips)
From: Mark Ross
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 05:27 PM

EDDIE'S SONG

by Utah Phillips
written for Eddie Balchowsky.

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

CHORUS;
One hand on the keyboard and 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 the forgotten songs of Spain.
I wish we could remember all those things.

CHO.;

I thought that I had trouble when I was on the loose,
That must have been our carnival instead,
And now I hear our children, they're singing "What's the use?"
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 .

A YouTube performance of Eddie's Song by David Rogers

YouTube Documentary video about Ed Balchowsky
LINK to more information in this thread about Ed Balchowsky
Youtube Performance of "Eddie's Song" with U Philip's Introduction about Eddie starts around 36.5 into video, performers unknown

Link to post below about   EDDIE'S SONG by Utah Phillips

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FOLK SONG ARMY (Tom Lehrer)
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
The Folk Song Army by Tom Lehrer
Regards, Geoff

Subject: Lyr 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 Off 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".
Off To Philidelphia 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: 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 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

The thread is now very long with 100+ songs listed and so be aware that if you use a blue click link to access a location outside of this thread (mostly YouTube) it may take a bit of time for the thread to download when you come back

Posts to this perma thread are being consolidated and organised thematically according to song title and topic.
Clickable links to the location of these consolidated and organised postings are provided in the SONG LIST and TOPIC LIST below.
PLEASE DO NOT POST LYRICS OF SONGS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH: there are a great many, 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 AND USE THE BACK ARROW TO GET BACK TO THE LIST

SONGS MARKED *** HAVE LYRICS POSTED

PERFORMERS MARKED # HAVE A HYPERLINK TO THEIR PERFORMANCE OF THE SONG IN THE MAIN POST ABOUT THE SONG
Also ( Another thread listing performers is HERE)

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 TITLE                                      WRITTEN BY,              RECORDED BY
  Abraham Lincoln Brigade, The .......... JOHN McCUTCHEON ........... John McCutcheon # 
 Abraham Lincoln Lives (Walks) Again ... LEWIS ALLAN (Abel Meeropol) Tony Saletan#    
  *** Adelante (The Ballad of Clem Beckett)....JOE SOLO...............Joe Solo #
   ***Always the Cause  .................. AL STEWART.................  Al Stewart#   
 ***Another Valley...................... GEORDIE MCINTYRE........... Geordie McIntyre & Alison McMoreland#
 ***Antyfascist Steve................... WOODY GUTHRIE.............. - 
 ***Any Bread ……................         SEAN COONEY................The Young’uns #
  ***As I Walk Jarama Valley............. GEOFF PARRY,NEVILLE GRUNDY. Neville Grundy
 At the Siege of   Madrid................ ROBB JOHNSON............... Robb Johnson#
***Ay Carmela    ..................……………. SEAN COONEY ................The Young’uns# 
    

    Badajoz............................. BRUCE BARTHOL.............. Bruce Barthol#
    Ballad of Frank Ryan,The............  ANDY IRVINE...............  Andy Irvine#

 ***Ballad of Heroes.................... AUDEN,SWINGLER,BRITTEN .... Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
  ***Battlefields of Spain,The .......... JOE MULHERON .............  ? 
  ***Beloved Comrade .................... LEWIS ALLAN & FRED KATZ.... Josh White#,Max Parker,Tony Saletan, Jamie O'Reilly
    
 ***Bite,The............................ NA MARA.................... Na Mara #   
  ***Bleeding Hearts..................... SI KAHN.................... Si Kahn 
 ***Blood And Rain...................... JOHN YOUNG.................  John Young +band # 

 ***Bob Cooney's Miracle .................SEAN COONEY..............  The Young'uns #
   ***Bones of '36,The.................... CHRIS TYMKOV...............  Chris Tymkow 
    

    

  ***Casualties We Here Recall............ MANUS O'RIORDAN,BLANAID SALKELD,LESLIE DAIKEN,EWART MILNE
  *** Cable Street ...............…       SEAN COONEY..............…The Young’uns #
 ***(A)Candle for Durruti ...............…Al GREERSON..............… Al Grierson#,David Rovics 
 *** Carrying the Coffin ................. SEAN COONEY..............…The Young’uns #
   ***Catalonia    ........................ PHIL & JUNE COLCLOUGH ..... De Dannan   
    ***Civil War In Spain,The.............. JOE MULHERON & OTHERS?..... Pol MacAdaim#,Gerry Jones #
      Civil War Yeah!..................... 12E AS HISTORY & LEONARD COHEN ?The Animals?#
   ;Clarence Kailin........................ SI KAHN.................... Si Kahn # 
  ;***Clem Beckett........................ GEOFF LAWES................ Geoff Lawes# 
  ; ***Clem Beckett........................ ROY BLACKMAN............... Roy Blackman #
 ***Come Ye Anti-Fascists Rally......... BOB COONEY ................    ? 
 Connolly Column,The....................    JOE MULHERON.............  ? 
 Connolly Column Song, The..............    ?     .................. Max Parker# 
 ***Connolly's Rebel Song...............  JAMES CONNOLLY............. ? 
 ***Cookhouse...........................     ?    .................. Pete Seeger and The Almanac Singers#  
    

  ***David Guest...................…... SEAN COONEY...............…The Young’uns # 
***Dundee Lassie,The................... MARY BROOKSBANK ........... Maureen Jelks
                                                         ........... Ray Fisher 
                                                         ...........&Janet Jones#     

  ***Ebre1938 (The)..................... BERNI ARMSTRONG ..........  Berni Armstrong #
***Eddie's Song........................ UTAH PHILLIPS ............. Utah Phillips,David Rogers#  
 ***Eight Men From Hull................. GEOFF LAWES ............... Geoff Lawes#
 ***English Penny....................... PAUL McNAMARA & ROB GARCIA.  Na Mara#
    Ethel On The Airways ............... ALISTER HULETT............. Alister Hulett #
    

  ***For Eddie........................... S.HAYNES & E.VON HEITLINGER  Aliotta, Haynes and Jeremiah# 
 ***Fight For Spain, The................ BILLY STEWART.............. Billy Stewart + band# 
 *** Fighting Against Franco............ JOHN MALCOLM............... John Malcolm +band# 

  ***Folk Song Army,The.................. TOM LEHRER ................ Tom Lehrer#               
 Fountain Of Tears...................... ROBERT ARMOUR.............. Robert Armour# 
 ***For Whom The Bell Tolls............. METALLICA.................. Metallica#
 ***Freedom's Galtee Boys............... MANUS O'RIORDAN/C.MOORE/P.HALLORAN..   - 
 ***From Bellshill To Barcelona......... CHRIS ROGERS............... Chris Rogers# 
    

***General Lister?s Last Command  ....... MANUS O?RIORDAN............. - 
***Guernika.............................. ANDY ROBERTS.......... Andy   Roberts#
 Guernica(Tribute to Picasso) ......... MICHAEL ANDREWS & GARY JULES........  Michael Andrews and Gary Jules#
 ***Ghosts Of Cable Street, The ........ THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG........ The Men They Couldn't Hang#  
  Ghosts Of Spain, The ................. GORDON NEIL................ Gordon Neil#  
***Goodbye Barcelona.................... KARL LEWKOWICZ.............. The cast of Goodbye Barcelona# 
***Great Tomorrow(The) ................... SEAN COONEY................The Young’uns# 
  ***Graves in Spain...................... MARY BROOKSBANK words,EILEEN PENMAN tune...... Eileen Penman#


    

 ***Harry Was a Bolshie....................ELIN WILLIAMS.............. The Limeliters,Ken Penny,Robert Hunter,Joe, Glazer#
  ***Hasta Luego (Fitba Not War).......     FRANK RAE................... Frank Rae# 
    ***Holding Out Against The Night..... EWAN McLENNAN.............. Ewan McLennan# 
 ***Hostel Strike      …......………..       SEAN COONEY……...............…  The Young’uns # 
    

  ***If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next ................ Manic Street Preachers #
      In Guernica....................... PETER  SCHICKELE ...........  Joan Baez#
  ***I Want To Go Home................... GITZ RICE/ANON ............ ?
 ***Internationale, The................. POTTIER, De GEYTER/ANON ... Alister Hulett#,Billy Bragg#,Marc Blitzstein&chorus#,
    

  ***Jamie Foyers........................ EWAN MacCOLL .............. Ewan MacColl,Dick Gaughan#,Robin Laing#, Cockersdale#,Martin Simpson#
 ***Jarama    ........................... ALEC McDADE ............... Tom Glazer
                                                         ........... PeteSeeger&ArloGuthrie# 
                                                         ........... Woody Guthrie#
                                                         ........... Ewan McLennan#, David Rovics#,  The Wakes#                                                     
***The Valley of Jarama    ........................……as performed by The Young’uns for The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff# 
***Just Another Dirt Track............. SUE HAITHWAITE.............  ?  
     

 ***   Lancashire Lads, The  ............. JOHN KIRKPATRICK ........  Neil Gore & David Heywood  # 
   ***Last Lincoln Veteran, The...........  DAVID ROVICS............. David Rovics# 
 ***Laurie Lee's Spain(Sixty Years On).. PETER SMITH ...............    - 
    Letter From Bilbao ................. LOWEST OF THE LOW ......... Lowest of the Low# 
***Lewis Clive >......................…... SEAN COONEY...............…The Young’uns # 

       

***Manana Song ........................   ?       ................. Max Parker#
***Maria De La Rosa ................... RON KAVANA ................ Ron Kavana#
***Market Day at Guernica ............. MIKE BATT.................. Katie Melua#
***Miners Against Fascism ............. TRACEY CURTIS.............. Tracey Curtis#
 Mother's Wish, A..................... CLAIRE McGHEE..............  Clair McGhee #   
    

***New Saint, Your...................... LORCAN OTWAY............... Lorcan Otway
***Noddy   ........................…….  SEAN COONEY...............…The Young’uns # 
***No Hay Pan.......................... SEAN COONEY...............…The Young’uns # 
******Non Intervention....................    ?       ................ -
  No Pasaran............................ GARY KAY..................  Gary Kaye#
  No Pasaran............................    ?      ................   The Minority#
   No Pasaran ........................... GERRY KEARNS..............
    

  ***O'Duffy's Ironsides................. DIARMUID FITZPATRICK....... Ronnie Drew#  
***Off To Salamanca.................... DIARMUID FITZPATRICK.......  ?
  *** Old Brigades' Song................. RORY MCLEOD...............  Rory McLeod# 
    


***Old Man's Song,The ................. IAN CAMPBELL............... Ian Campbell#,Christy Moore#
***Once A Jolly Franco................. ANON ...................... - 
***One Last Kiss In The Rain........... GREG QUIERY................ Greg Quiery  # 
***Only For Three Months............... P.McNAMARA & J. TEJEDOR.... Na Mara# 
***Our Open Eyes Could See No Other Way  MICHAEL SAM WILD..........; Michael Sam Wild #  
***Over the Ebro ..................…... SEAN COONEY...............…The Young’uns # 
 ***Owt For Nowt......................... JOHN WATT  .............John Watt# , Jim Bainbridge 
    

  ***Paella   ………...................   SEAN COONEY................The Young’uns # 
***Paul Robeson........................ SUMISHTA BRAHM  ........... Sumishta Brahm #
 ***People's Front...................... EDWARD BRANGWYN  ........... - 
 ***Picasso Paints Guernica............. ROBIN LAING................ Robin Laing# 
    

  ***Quartermaster's Song  .............. ANON ...................... Pete Seeger and The Almanac Singers#

    

  *** The Rat (Named Franco) ............ HARRY BERLOW...............   
  ***  Red Moon .......................... N.BETHUNE & R.RIVAL........   Evan Rogister,Benjamin C S Boyle &Salle Cortot #
*** The Road To Barcelona.................   PATRICK DEXTER............   Eilís Dexter # 
 ***Robson’s Song   ..................………. SEAN COONEY................The Young’uns # 

     

     Salud Brigadista.................... FOUNDLINGS................. Foundlings #
 ***Salud International Brigade! ....... JIM BROWN.................. Jim Brown#
 ***Silver Duro........................ PAUL McNAMARA & ROB GARCIA.. Na-Mara  # 
 ***Skeletons Of Quinto,The............. CHRISTOPHER GUEST.......... The Folksmen # 
    Sketches Of Spain................... NITS.......................  # 
    Song For Charlie Donnelly  ......... MANUS_O’RIORDAN  ..........  Manus_O’Riordan  
 ***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 - 
***Song Of The United Front ........ ERIC BENTLY,BERTHOLD BRECHT,HANNS EISLER...  Jamie O'Reilly & Michael Smith# 
 ***Spanish Bombs....................... THE CLASH.................. The Clash # 
 ***Spanish Civil War Song, The......... PHIL OCHS ................. Phil Ochs#            
 ***Spanish People, The................. ANON & S.POKRASS ..........Clare Roberts & Zoe#
 ***Start !............................. PAUL WELLER................ The Jam#
 ***Sussex By The Sea (Communist Version) ERNIE TRORY .............. ?
  
       

  ***Ta-Ra to Tooting............. ..... SEAN COONEY……...............The Young’uns # 
   Taro................................. JOE NEWMAN ................ Alt-J  
Taste of Ashes.......................... BRUCE BARTOL .............. Laurie Lewis#
 ***These Days.......................... LOTHIAN 121................ Lothian 121 #
    These Hands......................... THE WAKES.................. The Wakes #
    They Shall Not Pass................. GRACE PETRIE .............. Grace Petrie#
 ***Tom Wintringham..................... PAUL FRITH................. Paul Frith & The Considerate Lovers #
***Toast To Those Who Are Gone, A....... PHIL OCHS.................. Phil Ochs,Raymond Crooke#
***Trench Tales.......................... SEAN COONEY............….The Young’uns # 
    

  ***Underneath The Spanish Stars........ EDITH SEGAL................ Helene Williams#
    

  ***Viva Los Brigadistas............... GEORDIE MCINTYRE........... Geordie McIntyre& Alison MacMoreland  #
 ***Viva España!;Fighting Against Fascism GRAHAM FUDGE (CARTER).... Graham Carter# 
 ***  Viva La Quince/Quinte Brigada...... CHRISTIE MOORE ............. Christie Moore# et al      
    Volunteer,The....................... STEVIE (S.Simpson).........   Stevie  # 
    

 ***We Are The Fighting Antifascists....      ?      ............... Milton Wolff#
 ***We Came To Sunny Spain..............      ?      ............... Paddy Doyle
     When The Call Comes ................... ? ..................... #George Archibald&Ian McCalman
 White Flag.......................... HEATHER YOUNG.............. Heather Young +band# 
     

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
  Otto Estensen, Brigadista and Mandolinista
  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
  Brigaders Singing At Sam Wild's Funeral
  Unknown Parody of Los Cuatro 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
  Spanish Civil War Jacob's Ladder Parody 
  The Marching Song of the Chapaev Battalion
   Little Yellow Roses 
   Radio 4 Programme In Our Hearts Were Songs of Hope
   The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff