This is a kind of anti-belicist song by that great Catalan songwriter and composser, Lluís Llach, of the year 1969. But it’s against the official vision of the Spanish civil war: Franco won the war (don’t forget: against democracy) and, so, there were peace because he –they said- “made a country for all the people”; and Llach destroys all these myths: the price of his victory was the dictatorship, the lack of democracy, the lack of free spech, the fear, etc. His song ends with a call to hope and struggle.
This is the version he sang in a great concert, in 1976 January, at Barcelona, the first after a long silence, that was recorded in a live album: Barcelona. Gener 1976:
Respon-me
Amic que tants de cops em parles,
aquí assegut,
ulls abatuts,
mai no has sabut
dir-me allò just
del nostre absurd.
I avui que tinc el cos ple d’ànsia,
la meva sang,
les meves mans,
els meus afanys,
aquest pocs anys
m’estan cridant.
Qui va vèncer?
Qui dels ferros forjats per les bombes
va fer un poble nou?
Qui va vèncer?
Qui damunt de tants cossos aixafats
va aixecar aquella casa per a tothom?
Qui va vèncer?
Qui del llit s’aixeca amb el dret d’anar
pel carrer sense sentir por?
Pots dir-m’ho tu?
Pots dir-m’ho tu?
Saps que ningú.
Tots hem perdut,
tots som vençuts.
I amic, renegaràs amb força
d’aquesta nit,
de qui som fills,
d’aquest destí,
del nostre ahir
que ens ha traït.
Però, amic, més que buscar respostes,
cal adreçar
el foc, la llar,
hem de guanyar
tots aquests anys
que estan cridant:
Qui va vèncer?…
Answer me
My friend, you that so many times talk to me/ sitting here,/ bowed,/ you never has known/ say the just thing/ of our absurd.// And today that my body is filled with anxiety,/ my blood,/ my hands,/ my longings,/ these few years/ are crying to me.// Who overcame?/ Who made of the irons wrought by the bombs/ a new people?/ Who overcame?/ Who upon of so many squashed bodies/ rose a house for everybody?/ Who overcame?/ Who get up from his bed with the right of walking/ in the street without feeling fear?/ Can you tell me?/ Can you tell me?/ You know it’s nobody./ Everyone of us have lost,/ everyone of us are beaten.// And friend, you shall deny with might/ this night,/ of which we are the children,/ of this destiny,/ of our yesterday/ that has betrayed.// But, friend, rather than search for answers,/ it’s neccesary make ready/ the fire, the home,/ we have to win/ all these years/ that are crying:// Who overcame?…
Lluís Llach
Spanish translation:
La Zamarra de Gustavo 