AY, CARMELA. A song for Sunday.

Ay, Carmela, is one of the most famous of Spanish Civil War songs. This version by the group El Ultimo Ke Zierre uses the lyrics dedicated to the XVth Brigade formed in 1937 and which incorporated volunteers from twenty-six different countries including 600 Englishmen, 550 Americans (the Abraham Lincoln Battalion), 800 French and Belgians and 800 from the Balkans.

I doubt if anyone will ever dedicate a song to Mr David Duke.

But a good friend in the US, when I told him Duke was coming to Barcelona wrote:

"David Duke is fortunately a crook rather than a fanatic and has been bought and sold more times that a 10th Avenue hooker. That's all I can say that's positive about the swine."

Perhaps, once more, the less said the better.


Better the lyrics of the song

Viva la quince brigada,
Rumba, rumba, rumba

Que se ha cubierto de gloria,
¡Ay Carmela, ¡Ay Carmela!

Luchamos contra los curas,
Rumba, rumba, rumba

Legionarios y fascistas,
¡Ay Carmela, ¡Ay Carmela!

En los frentes de Gandesa,
Rumba, rumba, rumba

No tenemos municiones, ni cañones
¡Ay Carmela, ¡Ay Carmela!

Pero nada pueden bombas,
Rumba, rumba, rumba

Donde sobra corazón,
¡Ay Carmela, ¡Ay Carmela!

Sólo es nuestro deseo,
Rumba, rumba, rumba

Acabar con el fascismo,
¡Ay Carmela, ¡Ay Carmela!

Luchamos contra los curas,
Rumba, rumba, rumba

legionarios y fascistas,
¡Ay Carmela, ¡Ay Carmela!


Long live the 15th Brigade
The glorious 15th Brigade.
We're fighting the priests
The Foreign Legion and the fascists.
On the fronts of Gandesa
We have no ammunition or canons
But bombs can do nothing
Where there are hearts and to spare
Our only desire is
To eradicate fascism.
We're fighting the priests
The Foreign Legion and the fascists.

Ay Carmela, Ay Carmela!