Spanish Civil War Song

By 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?

Notes:

[NOTES: The liner notes have Hitler's "oldest ally," but as sung it is just "old ally," which seems to flow better.

As for the topic of this topical song: It's not just looking backward to the Spanish Civil War, and the contemporary problem wasn't just US military sales to Spain. Tourism to Franco Spain really was a crisis-of-conscience issue for mildly left-wing travelers in the 1960s: a beautiful country, and unbeatable prices, but yes, the government was still headed by Hitler's old (or oldest) ally.

This song strikes me as one of the least successful, but I don't mind: it's part of the outpouring that made the many better songs possible. --gkorsts@agronomy.org]