Guanajuato - David Rovics

I was raised in Guanajuato

That’s where I was born

For a thousand years that’s where

My family grew the corn

Farming’s what we lived by

And farming’s all we knew

Then the government signed NAFTA

And our farming days were through

I had to leave the village

There was no other way

I had to find work somewhere

Or starve if i should stay

In Ciudad de Mexico

I tried to survive

But the colonias were full

And there was no work to stay alive

I went to Tijuana

The maquila factories

Saw people living by the sewage

Dying on their knees

It was then in desperation

I knew I had to go

Leave the country I was born in

The only one I know

Cross the unknown deserts

To the other side

Around the wall that stretches on

A hundred miles wide

I trudged on for days

Don’t know how far I got

But I never knew in all my life

The sun could be so hot

My feet had turned to blisters

My water bag run dry

I thought about mi madrecita

As I looked up at the sky

I lay down for the last time

Parched upon the ground

Maybe someday

My body will be found

Eaten by the vultures

Bones bleached in the sun

Maybe I’ll go to heaven

If there is one

And I guess someone in California

Who wants to make their fields green

Is gonna have to find another Mexican

To keep their dishes clean