F  G  Am       F  G  C       F  G  Am
 
[Verse]
     C             G                C
Ten years before I saw the light of morning,
     C                      F
a comradeship of heroes was laid,
     F                               G
from every corner of the world came sailing
     G          G7          C
the Fifth International Brigade.
     G                                C
They came to stand beside the Spanish people,
     C                               F
to try and stem the rising fascist tide,
          F                            G
Franco's allies were the powerful and wealthy,
     G               G7             C
Frank Ryan's men came from the other side.
 G                   C
Even the olives were bleeding,
       C                             F
as the battle for Madrid it thundered on,
  F                                 G
truth and love against the force of evil,
 G    G7                        C
brotherhood against the fascist clan.
 
[Chorus]
  F
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
    F             G                     C
"No Pasaran", the pledge that made them fight.
     C            Em            Am
"Adelante" is the cry around the hillside,
 F            G          C
let us all remember them tonight.
 
[Verse]
    C              G                 C
Bob Hilliard was a Church of Ireland pastor,
C                                    F
form Killarney across the Pyrenees he came,
     F                                  G
from Derry came a brave young Christian Brother,
G                 G7                 C
side by side they fought and died in Spain.
      G                              C
Tommy Woods aged seventeen died in Cordoba,
        C                             F
with Na Fianna he learned to hold his gun,
     F                       G
from Dublin to the Villa del Rio,
         G                 G7                C
where he fought and died beneath the blazing sun.
 
[Chorus]
  F
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
    F             G                     C
"No Pasaran", the pledge that made them fight.
     C            Em            Am
"Adelante" is the cry around the hillside,
 F            G          C
let us all remember them tonight.
 
[Verse]
     C        G                  C
Many Irishmen heard the call of Franco,
       C                     F
joined Hitler and Mussolini, too.
      F                            G
Propaganda from the pulpit and newspapers,
          G     G7           C
helped O'Duffy to enlist his crew
    G                                     C
The word came from Maynooth, "support the Nazis!"
    C                   F
The men of cloth failed again.
         F                                        G
When the Bishops blessed the Blueshirts in Dun Laoghaire,
        G                  G7          C
as they sailed beneath the swastika to Spain.
 
[Chorus]
  F
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
    F             G                     C
"No Pasaran", the pledge that made them fight.
     C            Em            Am
"Adelante" is the cry around the hillside,
 F            G          C
let us all remember them tonight.
 
[Verse]
      C        G                 C
This song is a tribute to Frank Ryan,
    C                       F
Kit Conway and Dinny Coady, too,
      F                            G
Peter Daly, Charlie Regan and Hugh Bonar,
       G          G7                C
though many died, I can but name a few.
      G                                C
Danny Boyle, Blaser-Brown  and Charlie Donnelly,
     C                                 F
Liam Tumilson and Jim Straney from the Falls,
     F                             G
Jack Nalty, Tommy Patton and Frank Conroy,
    G           G7             C
Jim Foley, Tony Fox and Dick O'Neill.
 
[Chorus]
  F
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
    F             G                     C
"No Pasaran", the pledge that made them fight.
     C            Em            Am
"Adelante" is the cry around the hillside,
 F            G          C
let us all remember them tonight.
 
[Outro]
F        G         C    F        G        Am
Viva la Quinta Brigada, viva la Quinta Brigada.
F   G   C    F  G  Am  x4