Viva la Quinta Brigada - Christy Moore

Even the olives were bleeding

Oct 03, 2023

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This week’s song is Viva la Quinta Brigada, written by Christy Moore, an Irish singer/songwriter. In this song, he describes how many Irishmen went to Spain to fight during the Spanish Civil War. You can read about the background of the Spanish Civil War here . The link contains some important information and vocabulary that will help you understand this song.

If you’d like to hear the song before you read the background, I’ve included a YouTube link below the article.

Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics. I’ve written the lyrics in italics. As with most everything, there are many ways to interpret things. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section at the bottom.

✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.

The Song

(573 words)

Moore begins by saying when the event happened: Ten years before I saw the light of morning. In other words, we can guess that he was born 10 years after the Spanish Civil War which was from 1936 to 1939. (In fact, he was born in 1945.)

From every corner of the world came sailing The Fifteenth International Brigade. The International Brigades were volunteer soldiers from many countries. They came to stand beside the Spanish people to try and stem the rising fascist tide. “Stem” means to stop. Fascism is a kind of political system that usually has a dictator and limited rights to free speech. In this case, the volunteers wanted to help the people of Spain to stand up to Franco. He was a general who was leading a rebellion against the elected Republican government.

Moore writes that the supporters of Franco were wealthy (rich) people, but the supporters of Frank Ryan were not. Frank Ryan was an Irish politician, journalist, and activist who went to Spain to fight for the Republic.

‘No Pasarán’, the pledge that made them fight. A woman named Dolores Ibarruri was a supporter of the Spanish Republic. She was a communist party leader and member of the government in 1936. She coined the phrase, ‘No Pasarán’ or “They shall not pass” which meant that the people of Madrid would defend the city against the fascists.

‘Adelante’ is the cry around the hillside. The International Brigade would hide in the hills and wait for Franco’s soldiers. When they were ready to attack, they yelled “adelante” which means “forward.”

"Connolly Column flag - Spanish Civil War" by The Workers' Party of Ireland is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Moore lists a couple of Irish volunteers who fought in the Brigades. Robert Hilliard was a minister in the Church of Ireland. Another man, not named, was a brave young Christian brother. Ireland had a long history of conflicts between the Catholic/nationalist minority and the Protestant, unionist majority. Here, Moore shows how they worked together to go and help the Spanish people: side by side they fought and died in Spain.

Tommy Woods age seventeen died in Cordoba / With Na Fianna he learned to hold a gun. Na Fianna (“Soldiers of Ireland”) was a youth organization in Ireland that fought in the Irish War of Independence.

Not everyone in Ireland agreed with the new Republic in Spain. Many supported Franco because Franco wanted the Catholic Church to continue to be strong in Spain.

Eoin O’Duffy was an Irish military commander who participated in the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). O’Duffy and the Catholic leadership (propaganda from the pulpit/men of cloth) encouraged men of the blue shirts, an Irish paramilitary group, to fight in Spain for Franco. They sailed under the swastika to Spain. In other words, German ships transported the fighters to Spain.

Finally, Moore lists some of the Irish volunteers who fought for the Republic. One, Charlie Donnelly, coined the phrase, even the olives were bleeding, which showed how horrible the fighting was.

Near the end of the war, in November, 1938, the International Brigade units were ordered to leave Spain. In Barcelona, a parade was held for them, and the people showed great gratitude for these volunteers.

We might think that the Spanish Civil War ended a long time ago. For the people in Spain whose family members disappeared or were shot, or for the children taken from their parents who were in prison and raised by Nationalist families, the effects of the war continue.

Young people in Japan in 2015 used the phrase “No pasarán!” (see the video just under the Christy Moore video below). Does this surprise you? Why do you think they chanted this slogan?

Viva la Quinta Brigada - Christy Moore

Even the olives were bleeding

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