Get all 46 Joe Solo releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Farewell Hatfield Main, Sledgehammer Songs, Twenty From Twenty, Answer Machine/See You When I Get There, These Are My People, Fight The Good Fight Club Revisited, Upstairs At Park Street, Collected, and 38 more.
1. |
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My name is Jack Atkinson and I'm not afraid
I'll live and die by this vow that I've made
The only good fascist is a dead one they say
And Jarama here we are
When I first left Hull all them months ago
I told them I'd come not to kill but to cure
But for an 'ambulance driver' my shot's pretty sure
And Jarama here we are
There'll be no pasaran
No pasaran
No pasaran today
The fascists have come for our freedom
And we ain't gonna give it away
There'll be no pasaran here today
I told my mother, "Now mother be strong,
For the left way is right and the right way is wrong
And you can stick that on my grave when I'm gone"
For Jarama here we are
There'll be no pasaran
No pasaran
No pasaran today
The fascists have come for our freedom
And we ain't gonna give it away
There'll be no pasaran here today
The curse may be cast, and the cast may be cursed
But you armies of darkness you'd best do your worst
For to win, yeah, well you'll have to get past us first
And Jarama here we are
There'll be no pasaran
No pasaran
No pasaran today
The fascists have come for our freedom
And we ain't gonna give it away
There'll be no pasaran here today
WORDS AND MUSIC
BY JOE SOLO
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2. |
Our Open Eyes
03:24
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Saw Tommy James on Speakers Corner
And knew there and then I had to go
Just something in the way he spoke of freedom
I can't explain it, I just know
And if they ask you why we're leaving
To fight and die so far away
Just say a man needs something to believe in
And our open eyes could see no other way
Them Blackshirts, they came marching here last week, Ma
Spreading all their hate and fear
And like Tommy says, that's why we've got to go, Ma
If we don't stop them there, the same could happen here
And if they ask you why we're leaving
To fight and die so far away
Just say a man needs something to believe in
And our open eyes could see no other way
So I'm sailing off for Spain to fight for freedom
And don't try to stop me now Ma please
Cos like Tommy says, you have to stand for something
Cos who wants to live down on their knees?
And if they ask you why we're leaving
To fight and die so far away
Just say a man needs something to believe in
And our open eyes could see no other way
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3. |
It Couldn't Happen Here
03:42
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It's easier to sit there
It's Friday we've been paid
And Town are home tomorrow
They won last time they played
So pass a man a fag here
Let's have another beer
That's someone else's problem
It couldn't happen here
I've seen it in the papers
Them Fascists on the rise
But Harry lad them papers
Make up a lot of lies
It's something and it's nothing
Be over in a year
It's someone else's problem
It couldn't happen here
Me I'm an engineer
And you, you drive a bus
What's Franco, or Hitler
To do with us
Does Annie know you're leaving?
You'll only break her heart
You know how much she loves you
You'll tear her world apart
But go off and fight your fascists
Me I'm going to have that beer
That's someone else's problem
It couldn't happen here
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4. |
Blood Runs Red
04:20
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It was a dusty hall on the Empire Lane
She was a nurse back, begging help for Spain
"Spain is Red!" came a shout from one side
"Yes Spain IS Red, Spain is red," she cried.
"Spain is red, Spain is red
Red with the blood of the dying and the dead
And I've treated every nationality" she said
"And when their blood runs, well their blood runs red."
"I've been elbow deep in a stranger's blood
Fought flies from wounds, feet deep in mud
They took a little part of me when they died
But I didn't want it on my gravestone that I never tried."
She was the bravest soul that I ever saw
Just a few days home and then back to war
I see her in my sleep wading through the dead
While an ill wind whispers every word she said....
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5. |
Madrid
03:41
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Straight from the train we were rushed through the station
And out to the trenches on Suicide Hill
On the way Jack and Tommy had talked through the ethics
Of how to save lives sometimes you've got to kill
At our back fields of black and red poppies
Lined the wind of a white dusty road
And up there in front stood the Armies of Darkness
It was "keep your eyes open, boys, lock and load."
Remember
The hills of Jarama
Remember
The things that we did
And remember
That we fought for freedom here
And we died for Madrid
When it come, well it come down like thunder
I saw hell in the eyes of my friends
When Jack fell Tommy ran out to help him
And I knew that I'd not hear that laughter again
Remember
The hills of Jarama
Remember
The things that we did
And remember
That we fought for freedom here
And we died for Madrid
We fell back, we were battered and bleeding
Just a handful of what passed for men
Then somebody shouted out "SING FOR YOUR LIVES BOYS!"
We hollered 'The Red Flag' and rallied again.
Remember
The hills of Jarama
Remember
The things that we did
And remember
That we died for freedom here
And we died for Madrid
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6. |
Backgammon
05:28
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We met in a bar in Barcelona
He'd seen our boards were the same
And he brought over wine and whisky
I set them up to play a game
The first time we played he beat me
He just winked and smiled at me and then
Held out a hand and just said: "Ivan."
Me I grinned and set them up again
He could never tell what I was saying
We'd different words to that old song
But we didn't care when we were playing
Backgammon all night long
He'd a wife and kid in Vladivostock
He's write to them every day
Then he'd bring over wine and whisky
And we would play the night away
He could never tell what I was saying
We'd different words to that old song
But we didn't care when we were playing
Backgammon all night long
Then one day Franco moved the counters
He rolled the dice and he attacked
We went to fight him in the mountains
And Ivan didn't come back
He could never tell what I was saying
We'd different words to that old song
But we didn't care when we were playing
Backgammon all night long
I sent my board to Vladivostock
Back to Ivan's wife and kid
I couldn't bring myself to play now
And they weren't to know it wasn't his
He could never tell what I was saying
We'd different words to that old song
But we didn't care when we were playing
Backgammon all night long
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7. |
Cemetery Walls
01:48
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The Church bell still rings on the hour
The sun will still rise and will fall
On the road to Almeria
And the holes in the cemetery wall
The bones in the dust by the roadside
And San Raphael they recall
The road to Almeria
And the holes in the cemetery wall
Rise up, rise up from the mountains
All you men, women, children and all
From the road to Almeria
To the holes in the cemetery wall
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8. |
You've All This To Come
03:49
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Mister, oh mister, I blame all of you
Who sat back in silence with too much to lose
You who deafened your ears to the sound of the guns
You've all this to come
You've all this to come
You can bury your heads in the sand for so long
And pray when you drag them back out they'll have gone
Oh but by then the damage is already done
You've all this to come
You've all this to come
Mister you'll soon wipe that look off your face
When you're next on their list to ship out of this place
When you can't trust your children and your neighbours all shun you
You've all this to come
You've all this to come
Fear is their weapon and money their bait
You'll be taught how to grovel and primed how to hate
Til you'd sell your own brother for a place in the sun
You've all this to come
You've all this to come
See how fascism works mister is through
The collective self-interest of people like you
Who would climb up their mountain to slay your own son
You've all this to come
You've all this to come
And when their bombers rain fire from the sky
And you people are dying you'll want to know why
And it's cos you didn't do now what had to be done
You've all this to come
You've all this to come
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9. |
Spanish Moon
04:04
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You gave me this locket
"It's a lucky charm" you said,
"Don't you dare forsake me
And don't you come home dead"
You sang "Red River Valley"
And made me learn the tune
Now I'm smoking French cigarettes
Beneath a Spanish Moon
Got lucky at Jarama
Got cut off from the rest
Pinned down by snipers
From up there on the crest
But I wished upon that locket
That help was coming soon
Now I'm smoking French cigarettes
Beneath a Spanish Moon
Left Bill in Brunete
Buried in a sack
300 went out
42 come back
I sang "Red River Valley"
To that empty barracks room
Now I'm smoking French cigarettes
Beneath a Spanish Moon
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10. |
Fight On
05:58
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I just want to say thank you, Jack
For what you did in that war
Not just fighting and dying there
But what you were fighting for
Six foot four with your Daddy's eyes
Your mother's only son
Return ticket to Paris
And a certain way with a gun
Fight on
It weren't for King or for Country, Jack
You'd never queue in line
Like them lambs for the slaughter Jack
It was on your terms this time
I guess that you saw it coming, Jack
And knew that was just the start
While others listened to Chamberlain
You listened to your heart
Fight on
Six foot four and your Daddy's eyes
And boy could you knock em down
You fought the Blackshirts on Corporation Fields
And ran them out of town
They say a man he dies twice, Jack
First when his days are through
And then when he gets forgotten, Jack
But I remember you
Fight on.
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11. |
My Comrade And My Friend
02:18
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Dear Lord if you can hear me now
If you've got an ear a lend
Spare a little mercy for
My comrade and my friend
He never had no faith in you
But right up til the end
Was ever honest, brave and true
My comrade and my friend
He gave his life for freedom
And he'd do it all again
Spare a little mercy for
My comrade and my friend.
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12. |
Barcelona
03:09
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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK
Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from
Scarborough.
Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.
He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
... more
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