South Coast (From the Album From the Hungry I) - The Kingston Trio

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely

You may win at the game at Jolon

But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

My name is Juan Hano de Castro

My father was a Spanish grandee

But I won my wife in a card game, when a man lost his daughter to me

I picked up the ace

I had won her!

My heart, which was down at my feet

Jumped up to my throat in a hurry-

Like a warm summers' day, she was sweet

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely

You may win at the game at Jolon

But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

Her arms had to tighten around me as we rode up the hills from the South

Not a word did I hear from her that day- or a kiss from her pretty red mouth

We came to my cabin at twilight

The stars twinkled out on the coast

She soon loved the valley- the orchard- but I knew that she loved me the most

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely

You may win at the game at Jolon

But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

Then I got hurt in a landslide with crushed hip and twice-broken bone

She saddled our pony like lightning- rode off in the night, all alone

The lion screamed in the barranca;

the pony fell back on the slide

My young wife lay dead in the moonlight

My heart died that night with my bride

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely

You may win at the game at Jolon

But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

Daughters were possessions, to be bet away or arranged marriages for;

also,

note the use of «young wife» in the final stanza.

Her shyness- «had to tighten»

— and her silent reticence but adaptable «soon loved…» indicates no previous

marriage, and «lost his daughter to me» indicates her origin, whereas «to hell with the lords o’er the sea» seems thrown in. If this man were a sailor,

why would he have established orchards?

Just a thought.

I’d really like to see the original music if it were available.

The concept of betting away a daughter was my first exposure to the concept of

women as property and the sung stuck with me my whole life.

(I was the oldest

and only daughter and I was afraid of the possibility;

I was 9 and the chorus,

except for one word, and the storyline, and the tune have stayed with me for

the last 25 years;

it influenced my major «women's studies»)