[Verse]
Ten years before I saw the light of morning,
A comradeship of heroes was laid,
Every corner of the world came sailing,
The Fifth International Brigade.

And they came to stand beside the Spanish people,
To try and stem the rising fascist tide,
Franco's allies were the powerful and the wealthy,
Frank Ryan's men came from the other side.

And even the olives were bleeding,
As the battle for Madrid, it thundered on,
Truth and love against the force of evil,
Ah, the Brotherhood against the fascist clan.

[Chorus]
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
"No Pasarán!" The pledge that made them fight,
"Adelante!" Is the cry along the hillside,
Let us all remember them tonight.

[Verse]
Bob Hilliard was a Church of Ireland pastor,
From Killarney across the Pyrenees he came,
From Derry came the brave young Christian Brothers,
Side by side they fought and died in Spain.

Tommy Woods age seventeen died in Córdoba,
With Na Fianna he learned to hold his gun,
From Dublin to the Villa del Rio,
Tom fought and died beneath that blazing sun.

[Chorus]
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
"No Pasarán!" The pledge that made them fight,
"Adelante!" Is the cry along the hillside,
Let us all remember them tonight.

[Verse]
And many Irishmen they heard the call of Franco,
They joined Hitler and Mussolini too,
Propaganda from the pulpit and newspapers,
Helped O'Duffy to enlist his crew.

And the word came from the Maynooth, "Support the Nazis",
Yes, the men of cloth they'd failed us yet again,
When the Bishops blessed the Blueshirts in Dún Laoghaire,
As they sailed beneath the swastika to Spain.

[Chorus]
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
"No Pasarán!" The pledge that made them fight,
"Adelante!" Is the cry along the hillside,
Let us all remember them tonight.

[Verse]
Ah, this song it is a tribute to Frank Ryan,
Kit Conway and Dinny Coady too,
Peter Daly, Charlie Regan and Hugh Bonar,
Oh, but many died, I could, but name a few.

Danny Boyle, Blaser-Brown and Charlie Donnelly,
Liam Tumilson and Jim Straney from Short Strand,
Jack Nalty, Tommy Patton and Frank Conroy,
Jim Foley, Tony Fox and Dick O'Neill.

[Chorus]
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
"No Pasarán!" The pledge that made them fight,
"Adelante!" Is the cry along the hillside,
Let us all remember them tonight.

[Outro]
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
Viva la Quinta Brigada,
Viva la Quinta Brigada.