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Ten years before I saw the light of morning |
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A comradeship of heroes was laid |
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From every corner of the world came sailing |
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The Fifth International Brigade |
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They came to stand beside the Spanish people |
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To try and stem the rising fascist tide |
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Franco's allies were the powerful and wealthy |
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Frank Ryan's men came from the other side |
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Even the olives were bleeding |
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As the battle for Madrid it thundered on |
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Truth and love against the force of evil |
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Brotherhood against the fascist clan |
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[Chorus] |
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Viva la Quinta Brigada |
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"No Pasaran", the pledge that made them fight |
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"Adelante" is the cry around the hillside |
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Let us all remember them tonight |
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Bob Hilliard was a Church of Ireland pastor |
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Form Killarney across the Pyrenees he came |
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From Derry came a brave young Christian Brother |
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Side by side they fought and died in Spain |
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Tommy Woods age seventeen died in Cordoba |
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With Na Fianna he learned to hold his gun |
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From Dublin to the Villa del Rio |
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Where he fought and died beneath the blazing sun |
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[Chorus] |
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Many Irishmen heard the call of Franco |
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Joined Hitler and Mussolini too |
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Propaganda from the pulpit and newspapers |
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Helped O'Duffy to enlist his crew |
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The word came from Maynooth, "support the Nazis" |
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The men of cloth failed again |
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When the Bishops blessed the Blueshirts in Dun Laoghaire |
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As they sailed beneath the swastika to Spain |
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[Chorus] |
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This song is a tribute to Frank Ryan |
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Kit Conway and Dinny Coady too |
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Peter Daly, Charlie Regan and Hugh Bonar |
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Though many died I can but name a few |
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Danny Boyle, Blaser-Brown and Charlie Donnelly |
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Liam Tumilson and Jim Straney from the Falls |
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Jack Nalty, Tommy Patton and Frank Conroy |
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Jim Foley, Tony Fox and Dick O'Neill |
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[Chorus] X2 |