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Spanish Civil War Song Lyrics
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?
No surprise that there are no other comments here, exactly as Phil Ochs knew and sang. Did you ever wonder why? No one in our generation was taught to learn about, let alone question, the global history of the early 21st century. In the late 1930s Spain was in a civil war. Its fall to Franco easily led to the rise of fascism elsewhere, and inevitably WWII. And those who fought against fascism returned to their home nations and were shunned, attacked, spied on.
Next time maybe we should stop, wonder why, pause and cry.