These Hands

I take a look at you old man ,

As you sit in your chair

You can be almost anyone

For all i know or i care

But on your chest is a red star

From your days long gone by

For a proud fighting past

For a cause you held high

Son we set out from Glasgow

To the war torn in Spain

Brave socialist fighters

From a Scottish brigade

Not knowing our fate

Or what would befall

But for justice and freedom

We were proud to give all

And these hands fought the fascists

At jarama in Spain

My heart beats for justice

Until my dying day

I never set out for glory

But I'd my part to play

In the fight against Franco

At jarama in Spain

For five weeks we waited

To be handed a gun

They drove us into the fighting under Spain's blazing sun

And the fires of hell don't compare

To the battle that day

In the heat of jarama

Seven thousand were slain

Then we ran out of bullets

Taken by Franco's men

To tavelerna de la reina

And then moved on again

And the calton hand never

Seemed so far away

As I lay in my prison

In salamanca in Spain

And these hands fought the fascists

At jarama in Spain

My heart beats for justice

Until my dying day

I never set out for glory

But I'd my part to play

In the fight against Franco

At jarama in Spain

Take a look at me now son

And the star on my chest

Some would have given everything

For the cause of the left

Then the deeds that we've done

And the parts we played

In the fight against Franco

At jarama in Spain

And these hands fought the fascists

At jarama in Spain

My heart beats for justice

Until my dying day

Oh I never set out for glory

But I'd my part to play

In the fight against Franco

At jarama in Spain

In the fight against Franco

At jarama in Spain