The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Spanish songs in Andalucía
The shooting sites in the days of '39
Oh, please, leave the vendanna open
Federico Lorca is dead and gone
Bullet holes in the cemetery walls
The black cars of the Guardia Civil
Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica
I'm flying in a DC 10 tonight
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish weeks in my disco casino
The freedom fighters died upon the hill
They sang the red flag
They wore the black one
But after they died it was Mockingbird Hill
Back home the buses went up in flashes
The Irish tomb was drenched in blood
Spanish bombs shatter the hotels
My senorita's rose was nipped in the bud
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
The hillsides ring with "Free the people"
Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?
With trenches full of poets
The ragged army, fixin' bayonets to fight the other line
Spanish bombs rock the province
I'm hearing music from another time
Spanish bombs on the Costa Brava
I'm flying in on a DC 10 tonight
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Oh mi corazón, oh mi corazón
Spanish songs in Andalucía, Mandolina, oh mi corazón
Spanish songs in Granada, oh mi corazón
Oh mi corazón, oh mi corazón
Oh mi corazón
The shooting sites in the days of '39
Oh, please, leave the vendanna open
Federico Lorca is dead and gone
Bullet holes in the cemetery walls
The black cars of the Guardia Civil
Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica
I'm flying in a DC 10 tonight
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish weeks in my disco casino
The freedom fighters died upon the hill
They sang the red flag
They wore the black one
But after they died it was Mockingbird Hill
Back home the buses went up in flashes
The Irish tomb was drenched in blood
Spanish bombs shatter the hotels
My senorita's rose was nipped in the bud
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
The hillsides ring with "Free the people"
Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?
With trenches full of poets
The ragged army, fixin' bayonets to fight the other line
Spanish bombs rock the province
I'm hearing music from another time
Spanish bombs on the Costa Brava
I'm flying in on a DC 10 tonight
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
Oh mi corazón, oh mi corazón
Spanish songs in Andalucía, Mandolina, oh mi corazón
Spanish songs in Granada, oh mi corazón
Oh mi corazón, oh mi corazón
Oh mi corazón
Lyrics submitted by aebassist, edited by Elphy, emc123, Holdersongs
Spanish Bombs Lyrics as written by Joe Strummer Gabriel Sopena
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I am sorry to belittle those people that said that the song has nothing to do with ETA, but you are so very very wrong.
This song was written during a period of the 1970s when ETA was planting bombs on the Spanish holiday resort areas, principally the Costa Brava (hence that reference). The DC-10 reference is part of this as well as it was the type of plane so commonly used by tour operators (that cant be a reference to the Civil War as of course the DC-10 did not exist in 1939). He is saying that like the many non-Spanish (including for example George Orwell, also referenced in the song) he (as a British tourist) is flying into the war zone.
In a nut-shell, the song is about passion. Passion for a lover (Joe Strummer had a Spanish lover at the time), and passion for your country, drawing parallels between the Spanish Civil War and the ETA struggle for basque separatism, with a dollop of Irish indepenence fighting via the 'back home and buses' reference which is a namecheck to the IRA campaign.
You have to appreciate that Joe Strummer had a certain fascination with all things Spanish (don't think he got the Spanish lyrics wrong, it is just the poor writing down of the lyric by others) and also the song was written during the 1970s a time of fear and unrest in the UK with the IRA bombing our towns and cities (don't get me started on that or the US funding of their terror campaign) and the ETA bombings in family holiday resorts.