Lyr Add: Los Companeros (Allan Taylor)

Subject: Lyr Add: LOS COMPANEROS (Allan Taylor)
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 09:30 AM

Los Campaneros As Sung By Allan Taylor

Well worth a listen

LOS COMPAÑEROS
As Sung & Written by? Allan Taylor

You see them, in old Havana,
Playing cards, smoking cigars ...
And then they're polishing, the chromium fenders
On their big old, Yankee cars.
Manuel sits, in la Casa de Rosa,
Drinking rum, and watching the girls ...
He whistles, at the beautiful Maria
And she smiles, and tosses her curls.

Now the bartender strums, his guitar
And the rhythm, plays out, in the street.
Maria moves, with the passion
As her body, sways in the heat.
And the old guys, are smiling with pleasure,
For a moment, they're young and they're strong.
And the young girls, are giving them flowers
As they sing, their victory song.

Chorus ....Ah But..
Once we were bold companeros,
Running guns, from the Florida keys,
On the beach, from Santiago de Cuba,
We were fighting. with Fidel and Che.

He talks of the great revolution
In words of sadness and pride.
And the medals he wears
Are the scars that he bears –
And he drinks for the friends who died.
We were farmers, we were poets, we were hungry.
All we wanted was our own peace of land.
We were fighting, for our wives and children
And freedom for every man! .... Chorus

Now the Yankees they come for the fishing
And their pockets are loaded with greens.
Ten dollars will buy you a woman
or a tank of, gasoline.
And the young kids are leaving the island
And the old guys have nothing to say.
Manuel is living, on dreams of the past
And tonight, he'll drink it away … Chorus

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COMPANEROS (Ewan MacColl)
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 10:03 AM

Worth looking out for
Jim Carroll

THE COMPANEROS
(Ewan MacColl)

The good ship Gran-Ma lies at anchor in the harbour.
Waiting for the evening tide to bring high water;
It's bound for Cuba she must go.
Across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Ocean;
She's carrying a human cargo,
Eighty-three good companeros,
Each one burning with determination to be free.

First chorus:
Against Batista, the Fidelistas;
Courage was their only armour
As they fought at Fidel's side with Che Guevara!

Ten days out from Mexico, these companeros
Landed on the Cuban beach, Los Colorados;
And Fidel said, "This year will see
Our country and its people free, or else we will be martyrs.
We've only guns enough for twenty,
The enemy has arms a-plenty;
Meet him then defeat him and he'll keep us well supplied!"

First chorus

Five weeks later in the Canyon del Arroyo,
The people's army numbered eighteen companeros;
Hungry, weak, but unafraid,
They'
re learning revolution's trade in the high Sierra Maestra;
And in the mountains winds are blowing,
Bearing seeds of hope and sowing
Crops in Cuban earth that mark the birth of victory.

Second chorus:
On, companeros, to El Uvero!
Courage was their only armour
As they fought at Fidel's side with Che Guevara.

They fought their way across the peak of El Turquino,
Joined by peasant bands and men from Santiago;
They faced Batista's tanks and planes
And drove them down into the plains from the high Sierra Maestra
They drove the gangsters from Las Villas,
Straight across the Cordilleras;
Santa Clara fell to Che Guevara and was free!

First chorus

The fire lit on that Cuban beach by Fidel Castro
Shines all the way to Tierra del Fuego;
Its sparks are blown upon the breeze
And men rise up from off their knees when they see the night is
burning.
It blazes up in Venezuela,
Bolivia and Guatemala,
Lights the road that men must go in order to be free.

Final chorus:
On, companeros, Americanos!
For a people's free America
Fidel has shown the way with Che Guevara.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Los Campaneros
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 10:42 AM

Jim
Ewan's is a good song too - a narrative close to the time of the revolution - political

Allan's song is of today of the older men remembering sentimentaly past glories. - Nostalgia

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Los Companeros (Alan Taylor)
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 07:19 PM

Slight corrections to line one and two of first verse. (from the video)

Now you see them in old Havana,
........
And they're polishing chromium fenders


Great song

Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Los Companeros (Alan Taylor)
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 07:44 PM

Thanks CC
As a matter of interest were the Sverdlov and Ordzhonikidze as advanced as reports made out and special boats?(in another life of course)
Tks Kenny B

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Los Companeros (Alan Taylor)
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 01 Apr 13 - 10:59 AM

COMMANDER CRABB MYSTERY - British Pathé
www.britishpathe.com/video/commander-crabb-mystery
Commander Crabb, frogman whose activities near Soviet cruiser started a storm.

I could tell you, but................

CC