The songwriters from Spain, generally, used to sing about “national” things, and more specifically about the issues and troubles of their regions, cultures and languages. But that was not an obstacle to sing about international issues, because all that was a part of the same trouble. One ot that issue, as in many others lands, was the Vietnam war. In 1968, in his first EP, Galician songwriter Benedicto sung this lyric from Galician poet and politician Lois Diéguez. I think I won’t be wrong if I say that this is the first song about Vietnam war made in Spain, more specifically in Galicia, or, at least, in an explicit way:
No Vietnam
No Vietnam os ríos xa levan sangue,
os arrozales ficaron cubertos de homes.
¡A loitar! ¡A loitar!
No Vietnam voan bolboretas ensanguentadas
i o chan está sementado de pisadas estranxeiras.
¡A loitar! ¡A loitar!
No Vietnam estoupan diariamente millós de dolares,
e polo mundo escóitanse de cote laios de fame.
¡A loitar! ¡A loitar!
No vietnam morre a libertade afogada polos aviós
i os homes choran… ¡choran e berran!
¡A loitar! ¡A loitar!
No Vietnam os ríos xa levan sangue,
os arrozales ficaron cubertos de homes.
¡A loitar! ¡A loitar
no Vietnam
In Vietnam
In Vietnam rivers carries blood now,/ ricefields stood covered with men./ Let’s fight! Let’s fight!// In Vietnam are flying bloodstained butterflies/ and the soil is planted of foreigner footsteps./ Let’s fight! Let’s fight!// In Vietnam they spend millions of dollars daily,/ and around the world are listening continually plaints of hunger./ Let’s fight! Let’s fight!// In Vietnam freedom dies suffocated by the airplanes/ and the men are crying… Crying and shouting!/ Let’s fight! Let’s fight!// In Vietnam rivers carries blood now,/ ricefields stood covered with men./ Let’s fight! Let’s fight/ in Vietnam!
Lois Diéguez
Music by Benedicto García Villar
Spanish translation:
La Zamarra de Gustavo 