Spanish Bombs

Song infobox
Name = Spanish Bombs


Artist = The Clash
Album = London Calling
Released = 14 December, 1979
track_no = 6
Recorded = August-September 1979, November 1979 at Wessex Studios
Genre = Rock
Length = 3:18
Writer = Joe Strummer, Mick Jones
Label = CBS
Producer = Guy Stevens
Misc =

"Spanish Bombs" is a song by The Clash, sung by Joe Strummer, and featured on their 1979 double album, "London Calling". The song is about the Spanish Civil War and was written after travelling home from Wessex Studios when Joe Strummer was talking with Gaby Salter about ETA, an armed Basque nationalist separatist organization founded in 1959 in Spain. [cite web
url=http://www.theclash.org.uk/London.htm
title=London Calling
accessdate=2008-01-11
publisher=theclash.org.uk
quote='Spanish Bombs' was written as a result of travelling home from Wessex Studios late one evening, Strummer and Gaby Salter were talking about the Basque separatists in Spain who were engaged in a bombing campaign against various holiday resorts on the Costa Del Sol. ] cite book
last=Dimery
first=Robert
title=Collins Gem Classic Albums
accessdate=2008-01-08
year=1999
publisher=Harper Collins Publishers
location=Glasgow
isbn=0004724852
oclc=43582584
pages=
chapter=
quote=..."Spanish Bombs" praises the heroism of republicans in the Spanish Civil War.
Related news articles:
*cite web
url=http://www.superseventies.com/spclash.html
title=The Clash - London Calling
accessdate=2008-01-06
publisher=Super Seventies ] [cite web
url=http://www.aversion.com/bands/histories.cfm?directory=clash
title=The Clash
accessdate=2007-11-20
work=Artist History
publisher=Aversion.com
quote="Spanish Bomb’s" classical guitar ]

The song appears on the Clash compilation albums "The Story of the Clash, Volume 1" (1988) and "Clash on Broadway" (1991).

It has been covered by the German rock musician and singer Rio Reiser, by the ska, rock, punk Mexican band Tijuana No! and performed live by their co-founder, lead singer and songwriter Ceci Bastida. [cite web
url=http://www.la-underground.net/2007/09/los-angeles-loves-ceci-bastida.html
title=Los Angeles Loves... Ceci Bastida
accessdate=2008-01-15
date=2007-09-05
publisher=la-underground.net
quote=And for the first show of her residency at the Knitting Factory last night she pulled out a cover of The Clash's "Spanish Bombs", a long-time favorite for Tijuana No! fans and English-speaking attendees (basically us), in general. ]

References to the Spanish Civil War

"Spanish Bombs" praises the heroism of Republicans – who ranged from centrists to revolutionary anarchists and communists – in the Spanish Civil War, a major conflict that devastated Spain from July 17, 1936 to April 1, 1939 and ended in the victory of the Nationalists, who under the leadership of dictator Francisco Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist for the next 36 years. [cite web
url=http://teacherweb.ftl.pinecrest.edu/snyderd/MWH/Webquests/9-Dep&Tot/9-FrancoSpain.htm
title=Franco and the Spanish Civil War
accessdate=2008-01-06
year=2002
publisher=New Forum
quote=The punk band The Clash recorded "Spanish Bombs" in 1979, a song commemorating the Spanish Civil War. ] Many locations and people associated with the Spanish Civil War are mentioned in the song lyrics. Andalucia was one of the first regions of Spain to be overtaken by the military rebels in 1936. Federico García Lorca, (referred to in the song as Federico Lorca), was a poet from Andalucia who was killed during the rebellion. The Guardia Civil (or "Civil Guard") is a military police force under the control of both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense of Spain. The line "They sang "The Red Flag", they wore the black one" contains references to both the red flag as a symbol of socialism and the socialist anthem The Red Flag, as well as the black flag of the anarchists. The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), the Anarcho-syndicalist labor union, also flew the red and black flag of anarchist-communism.

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