Lyrical travels

A classical Mexican ranchero song:

Este es el corrido del caballo blanco,
que un día domingo feliz arrancara
iba con la mira de llegar al norte
habiendo salido de Guadalajara.

Su noble jinete le quitó la rienda
le quitó la silla y se fue a puro pelo
cruzó como rayo tierras nayaritas
entre cerros verdes y lo azul del cielo.

A paso más lento llegó hasta Escuinapa
y por Culiacán ya se andaba quedando,
cuentan que en Los Mochis ya se iba cayendo
que llevaba todo el hocico sangrando.

Pero lo miraron pasar por Sonora
y el Valle del Yaqui le dió su ternura
dicen que cojeaba de la pata izquierda
y a pesar de todo siguió su aventura.

Llegó hasta Hermosillo, siguió pa'Caborca (this one I haven't visited)
y por Mexicali sintió que moría
subió paso a paso por la Rumorosa
llegando a Tijuana con la luz del día.

Cumplida su hazaña se fué a Rosarito (this one I haven't visited)
y no quiso echarse hasta ver Ensenada(this one I haven't visited),
y este fué el corrido del caballo blanco
que salió un domingo de Guadalajara.[size=7][/size]

Wow! fbaezer! I haven't seen you in ages! So nice to see you again.

You've added a nice element by posting a song in your native tongue. Thank you for that.

My husband spent many happy summers in Guadalajara. His grandparents lived there for many years. I'm betting the song has lovely things to say about the city.

Well.... this is allll about Boston:

Dirty Water
THE STANDELLS
(Ed Cobb)

(spoken:)
I'm gonna tell you a story
I'm gonna tell you about my town
I'm gonna tell you a big bad story, baby
Aww, it's all about my town

Yeah, down by the river
Down by the banks of the river Charles (aw, that's what's happenin' baby)
That's where you'll find me
Along with lovers, fuggers, and thieves (aw, but they're cool people)
Well I love that dirty water
Oh, Boston, you're my home (oh, you're the Number One place)
Frustrated women (I mean they're frustrated)
Have to be in by twelve o'clock (oh, that's a shame)
But I'm wishin' and a-hopin, oh
That just once those doors weren't locked (I like to save time for
my baby to walk around)
Well I love that dirty water
Oh, Boston, you're my home (oh, yeah)

Because I love that dirty water
Oh, oh, Boston, you're my home (oh, yeah)

Well, I love that dirty water (I love it, baby)
I love that dirty water (I love Baw-stun)
I love that dirty water (Have you heard about the Strangler?)
I love that dirty water (I'm the man, I'm the man)
I love that dirty water (Owww!)
I love that dirty water (Come on, come on) [fade]

It's the story of a white horse who rode from Guadalajara to Ensenada.

I have others, the first ones that came into mind when I saw your thread:

"La perdí en la estación del Metro Balderas" (I lost her at the Balderas subway station) - Rockdrigo González
"Un delfín un delfín que va por San Angel Inn" (the dolphin was a type of bus, San Angel Inn is a neighborhood in Mexico City) - Rockdrigo.

"Fra la Via Emilia e il West" (between Via Emilia and the West) (Via Emilia is a street that runs from Rimini in the Adriatic coast to Milan, the West is the American West, and I'm lucky to know both) - Francesco Guccini

And, yes, Janis: Well, I'm going down that Mississippi River, Yes, I am, yes I am.

Sarah Evans
Missing Missouri

I love my life, love my husband
Without those kid's, man I ain't nothin'
I love my fans, love my band
Love my little Tennessee piece of land
Sometimes my life can get so hectic
Out of the blue when I least expect it
Somewhere between the hubbub and the drama
I get to thinkin' bout mama and

(CHORUS)
I'm caught up in missing Missouri
'Cause I wanna be with my family
Instead of stuck out on this road I'm on
Everytime my bus wheels hit the bootheel
There's no limelight and I'm alright
'Cause I'm almost home
Where they love me, where they know me
Where they show me back in Missouri

the road just ain't no place for whiners
It's motels, truck stops, all night diners
Hoping that your song'll sell
And having to smile when it ain't doin well
So when everything just gets too much
And I feel like I'm givin up
I close my eyes and say a little prayer
And its like I'm there and

(CHORUS)

Bridge:
Late summer nights sneakin out the window
Me and the girls driving down the backroads
Tobacco fields and bumblebees
And the cardinals playing on TV

Bobcaygeon

I left your house this morning about a quarter after nine
Coulda been the Willie Nelson coulda been the wine
When I left your house this morning
It was a little after nine
It was in Bobcaygeon I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time

Drove back to town this morning
With working on my mind
I thought of maybe quitting
Thought of leaving it behind
Went back to bed this morning
And as I'm pulling down the blind
The sky was dull and hypothetical
And falling one cloud at a time

That night in Toronto with its checkerboard floors
Riding on horseback and keeping order restored
Til the men they couldn't hang
Stepped to the mic and sang
And their voices rang with that Aryan twang

I got to your house this morning just a little after nine
In the middle of that riot
Couldn't get you off my mind
So I'm at your house this morning
Just a little after nine
Cause it was in Bobcaygeon where I saw the constellations
Reveal themselves one star at a time

The Hip

MURRAY MCLAUCHLIN: "Down By The Henry Moore


I walked down to Kensington Market
Bought me a fish to fry
I went to the Silver Dollar
Looked a stranger in the eye
A friend of mine says
That he don't think this town's so out of sight
But he's got shades 'round his soul
And he thinks he's seen the light

Singin' don't you want to keep on moving
Don't you want to get undone
Don't you want to change from losing
Don't you want to have some fun

I went down to the Palm Grove
I was jumpin' around the room
I was wearing my sneakers down
And castin' away my gloom
This fat girl come up and grabbed me
She sat me on her knee
She said you wrote that Farmer's Song
And she spilled a drink on me

Singin' don't you want to keep on moving
Don't you want to get undone
Don't you want to change from losing
Don't you want to have some fun

I went down to the Henry Moore
Skated all in the Square
The moon above my shoulder
And the ice was in my hair
Alone but never lonely
That's how I like to be
If you want to have fun
Like a rock'n roll bum
Don't think the worst of me

Singin' don't you want to keep on moving
Don't you want to get undone
Don't you want to change from losing
Don't you want to have some fun

Wood River
Connie Kaldor © SOCAN


Oh won't you come with me
Where the Wood River flows
We'll watch it meander slowly
As the sky turns from red to dark

And as that sun goes down
We'll throw our arms around
Each other and tell the dreams
That are deep in the heart

Because the heart is bigger than trouble
And the heart is bigger than doubt
But the heart sometimes needs a little help
To figure that out

So won't you come with me
Where the Wood River flows
The little Wood River knows
That it goes to nowhere but

That doesn't stop it going
Or them willows growing
Or all the lovers showing
Their hearts to each other there

Chorus

So won't you come with me
Where the Wood River flows
The little Wood River knows

this freakin' town was still the same when I lived there in the early 1990's
(I found out what my own personal hell was, living there)

Sudbury Saturday Night
Stompin Tom Connors

The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin' stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we'll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.

With Irish Jim O'Connel there and Scotty Jack MacDonald,
There's honky Fredrick Hurchell gettin' tight, but that's alright,
There's happy German Fritzy there with Frenchy getting tipsy,
And even Joe the Gypsy knows it's Saturday tonight.

Now when Mary Ann and Mabel come to join us at the table,
And tell us how the Bingo went tonight, we'll look a fright.
But if they won the money, we'll be lappin' up the honey, boys,
'Cause everything is funny, for it's Saturday tonight

The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin' stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we'll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.

We'll drink the loot we borrowed and recuperate tomorrow,
'Cause everything is wonderful tonight, we had a good fight,
We ate the Dilly Pickle and we forgot about the Nickel,
And everybody's tickled, for it's Saturday tonight

The songs that we'll be singing, they might be wrong but they'll be ringing,
When the lights of town are shining bright, and we're all tight,
We'll get to work on Monday, but tomorrow's only Sunday,
And we're out to have a fun day for it's Saturday tonight. Yeah

The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin' stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we'll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.

We'll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.

more Stompin Tom

(this is kinda like going through all my road-trip tapes)

Have you heard the news in Newfoundland, rolling around the rock,
How Reggie brought for Margie home a cowsie dungsie clock?
With Margie being a farm girl, she amost took a fit,
To find the cowsie dungsie clock was really made of it.

Now, the clock was from Toronto and her mind was soon made up,
She said to Reggie, "Get the cow and load her on the truck."
We're heading for Ontario and we're off to make her big,
'Cause Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

Reggie's got the rig, Reggie's got the rig;
Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

Now they're rolling thru the Maritimes and the truck was nearly full,
The cow began to bawl, she was lonesome for her bull;
The Mountie pulled them over "Is there something I can do?"
"Go right ahead, sir," Margie said, "climb in the back and moo!"

And when they got to Montreal they missed the Autoroute,
But they found that everyone in town was glad to help them out;
"The sooner you hit Toronto," they said, "the sooner you'll make it big,"
'Cause Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

Reggie's got the rig, Reggie's got the rig;
Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

Well, I wish you could've been there at the corner of Queen and Yonge,
When Margo found the company and she dumped her load of dung;
And when she found the office, she was singin' and doin' a jig,
'Cause Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

It was later in the evening when they heard from Mr. Judge,
"I don't know what to give you, but I'll never hold a grudge;
I think a thousand dollars would be fair to hand you down,
And thirty days of lodging will be free upon the town!"

Well Margo said to Reggie, "What a helluva deal we struck,
We might have lost the cow, b'y, but still we've got the truck."
And now they're back in Newfoundland, they're loading up the pig,
Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

Reggie's got the rig, Reggie's got the rig;
Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

Reggie's got the rig, Reggie's got the rig;
Margo's got the cargo, b'y, and Reggie's got the rig.

the last one and this one are over my desk at work

they're kinda work-related

weird too. we played the album with this on it into the ground when I was in university. then I got to know the hill. and now I sort of live with the results of this song.

Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas
by Harry Chapin

It was just after dark when the truck started down
the hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.
Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas.

He was a young driver,
just out on his second job.
And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
for everyone in that coal-scarred city
where children play without despair
in backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day
about thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes, just about thirty thousand pounds (scream it again, John) .

He passed a sign that he should have seen,
saying "shift to low gear, a fifty dollar fine my friend."
He was thinking perhaps about the warm-breathed woman
who was waiting at the journey's end.
He started down the two mile drop,
the curving road that wound from the top of the hill.
He was pushing on through the shortening miles that ran down to the depot.
Just a few more miles to go,
then he'd go home and have her ease his long, cramped day away.
and the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes the smell of thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him.
But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
delights went through him.
His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down.
But the pedal floored easy without a sound.
He said "Christ!"
It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.
He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide,
riding on his fear-hunched back
was every one of those yellow green
I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

He barely made the sweeping curve that led into the steepest grade.
And he missed the thankful passing bus at ninety miles an hour.
And he said "God, make it a dream!"
as he rode his last ride down.
And he said "God, make it a dream!"
as he rode his last ride down.
And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars,
clipped off thirteen telephone poles,
hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
and Blue-Crossed seven people.
it was then he lost his head,
not to mention an arm or two before he stopped.
And he slid for four hundred yards
along the hill that leads into Scranton, Pennsylvania.
All those thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

You know the man who told me about it on the bus,
as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
he shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
and he said (and this is exactly what he said)
"Boy that sure must've been something.
Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas.
Of bananas. Just bananas. Thirty thousand pounds.
of Bananas. not no driver now. Just bananas!"

From Greatest Stories Live: Ending #1

Yes, we have no bananas,
We have no bananas today
(Spoken: And if that wasn't enough)
Yes, we have no bananas,
Bananas in Scranton, P A

From Greatest Stories Live: Ending #2:

A woman walks into her room where her child lies sleeping,
and when she sees his eyes are closed,
she sits there, silently weeping,
and though she lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania
She never ever eats ... Bananas
Not one of thirty thousand pounds .... of bananas

Tucker Tanya
San Antonio Stroll


When I was a child down in South Caroline
Soon as Saturday sun went on down.
My folks and sister would go and leave me home all alone,
Going to that big square dance in town.
Well my old radio would play that old opry show,
So I never got lonesome or blue.
I'd fall asleep in my chair and dream that I was right there,
Just singing the whole night through.
When my folks would come home, they'd be humming a song,
Mama'd smile and say: "Child, don't you know,
"There ain't a thing in this world to make you fall in love girl,
"Like the San Antonio Stroll?"

Well the day finally come when my mama said: "Hun,
"It's 'bout time you came with us as well."
Well, I had me a time, yes, I danced all the night,
'Til they rang that ol' cracked-midnight bell.
Then the lights went down low, the fiddler picked up his bow,
And he played something stately and slow.
And my sister Eileen and her husband-to-be,
They held hands and began to stroll.
I've been away for a while, but it still brings a smile,
When I think of the way that it goes.
Now I'll sing it to you just so we both can do,
That old San Antonio Stroll.

Yes, I'll sing it to you just so we all can do,
That old San Antonio Stroll.

Hey! These are fun!

I was thinking back to some places I have lived.....

Iggy Pop: Houston is hot tonight

Bob Wills: Take me back to Tulsa I'm too young to marry
(Side note: I got married in Tulsa when I was 29 and I thought I was too young so this song has a special place in my heart.)

Jimmy Webb: Galveston O Galveston

There are a lot of songs about Chicago so I won't even get started.

The only song I can recall that mentions Portland is that one by Sheryl Crow that says: I packed my bags last night in Portland. I said goodbye to all my friends.

Wilbert Harrison
Kansas City


I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come
I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come
They got a crazy way of loving there
And I'm gonna get me some.

I'll be standing on the corner
On the corner of Twelfth Street and Vine
I'm gonna be standing on the corner
On the corner of Twelfth Street and Vine
With my Kansas City baby
And a bottle of Kansas City wine.

Well I might take a train
I might take a plane, but if I have to walk
I'm gonna get there just the same
I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come
They got a crazy way of loving there
And I'm gonna get me some.

I'm gonna pack my clothes
Leave at the break of dawn
I'm gonna pack my clothes
Everybody will be sleeping
Nobody will know where I've gone
Cause if I stay in town
I know I'm gonna die.
Gotta find a friendly city
And that's the reason why,
I'm going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
They got a crazy way of loving there
And I'm gonna get me some.