Jamie Foyers

"Jamie Foyers" is a well-known song by the folk singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.

It tells the story of a shipyard worker from the Clyde who goes to fight with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. He fights at the Battle of Belchite (1937), and is killed at Gandesa during the Battle of the Ebro.

MacColl adapted it from a traditional Scottish song about a soldier who fought in the Peninsular War, only retaining the first verse. By some accounts, Jamie Foyers was an actual person who was killed at Burgos in 1812, but by other accounts it was originally a generic Perthshire term for a soldier.

There is a last verse in MacColl's song that only appears in a minority of recordings, perhaps owing to the aggressive last line.

He lies by the Ebro in far away Spain,

He died so that freedom and justice might reign;

Remember young Foyers and others of worth

And don't let one fascist be left on this earth.

See also

• Tommy Atkins

External links

• lyrics of McColl's version
• lyrics of earlier version