JAMIE FOYERS
(11)
Ewan MacColl
Far
distant, far distant, lies Foyers the brave,
No
tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave;
His
bones they are scattered on the rude soil of Spain.
For
young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain.
He's
gane frae the shipyaird that stands on the Clyde ;
His
hammer is silent, his tools laid aside ;
To
the wide Ebro river young Foyers has gane
To
fecht by the side o' the people o' Spain.
There wasna his equal at work or at play,
He
was strang in the union till his dying day ;
He
was grand at the fitba', at the dance he was braw,
O,
young Jamie Foyers was the floo'er o' them a'.
He
cam' frae the shipyaird, took aff his working claes,
O, I
mind the time weel in the lang simmer days ;
He
said "Fare ye weel, lassie, I'll come back again."
But
young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain.
In
the fecht for Belchite he was aye to the fore,
He
focht at Gandesa till he couldna fecht more ;
He
lay ower his machine-gun wi' a bullet in his brain
And
young Jamie Foyers in battle was slain.
Footnote : Last week's week song was the
original traditional song entitled 'Jamie Foyers' which was based on the
Peninsular War against Napoleon. In one of the best contemporary songs
in the folk-song idiom, Ewan MacColl has in this version, based on the
Spanish Civil War of a hundred years later, captured something of the
spirit which made so many young men from so many countries to volunteer
to fight in Spain.
