“Curandera” Lyrics
Mezcal
Four days into Baja
Looking for a sign
An empty beach on a rugged coast
Trolling with a broken line
California dreaming
Running short on time
Rodriguez is missing
He’s gotta realize
We leave no one behind
It’s been too long to not get it right
No need to “find” yourself
Trust the north star deep in your heart
leave your compass up on the shelf
Hector came to see me
He can guide through the darkest night
Rodriguez is missing,
I hope he’ll realize
We leave no one behind
Make your way up from Oaxaca
Jump across that Gulf
Mescal gonna make you trip real easy
It’s the landing that might get rough
Sinaloa said nothing
Mescalero is sublime
Rodriguez still missing
He’ll see the vision
We leave no one behind
T. Zamora
© 2023
Dixie Overland Highway
It’d be easier to find the Dixie Overland Highway then convince me we were wrong
In 1931 a Deusenberg could outrun any dream that may go wrong
But Savannah is sticky and the tea is so sweet and it all reminds me of you.
and you always did dress just like Bonnie Parker but your outlaw never came through
On that Dixie Overland Highway
We can drive any time of year
Pack up the car we can be there by Friday
but we lost our way West of Dallas
I’ve been searching since it disappeared
Not exactly a love song I’d sing everyday
but I was bound to see it through
A happy ending feels so damn cliche
when heartbreak is all we knew
But If you could only see the beaches of Baja
feel the sunsets’ breezy cool
But there’s no place like home
and the South is so worn
no place for a lovesick fool
On that Dixie Overland Highway
We can drive any time of year
Pack up the car we can be there by Friday
but we lost our way West of Dallas
Been searching since it disappeared
The beach is so quiet in Old Mexico
Just a few kids running home from school
and I gather my thoughts but they still fall about
when I gather them up around you
I can hear your laugh in the breaking waves
there’s a sound to being alone
And there’s a price to be paid
if you don’t find your way
memories are all you own
On that Dixie Overland Highway
We can drive any time of year
Pack up the car we can be there by Friday
but we lost our way West of Dallas
Been searching since it disappeared
Tony Zamora
© 2023
Junk Drawer
I noticed all the junk in our drawer,
I didn’t know what half of it was for.
I suppose it makes some kind of sense but a broken hinge from the back porch door?
Staring out the window over the kitchen sink, you’re trying to see what lies ahead.
If you cleaned it out you think we’d be better off but life’s messy and that’s what junk drawers are fed
Come on little punk rock girl
We can go get right tonight
We can raise some Cain like we used to do when you were always looking for a fight.
There ain’t no way we kept it straight or clean
but I wouldn’t change a thing
Maybe we left a little mess behind
But you can’t fix what ain’t broke
And that is
yeah that is all I mean
I remember you back in 82’ on Larchmont Blvd.
Scaring the shit out of the tourist trade cause’ you were looking so damn hard.
“You said, “You’re a dashing, slashing
hunk of a man but I bet I can whoop
your ass. Is that an ugly tattoo or just a scar?
It doesn’t matter, it’s from your past”.
It was your town, little punk rock girl
We can crank it up again.
find a bag to get into, get exiled from the city of sin
There ain’t no way it’s been nice or easy
but I wouldn’t change a thing
Maybe we left some dust behind
but you can’t fix what ain’t broke
And that is
yeah that is all I mean
How many times did we see Donnelly coming at us from the wrong side. With a pocket full of nothing but trouble, dragging along his current bride
It was she and he that gave you wings made you nod on the wrong side of town. Couldn’t fly any higher couldn’t look more tired didn’t care, didn’t care what went down
Well we finally slowed
little punk rock girl
time has a way of seeing to that
You can still try to kiss the sky
never know if it’s your last at bat
There ain’t no way it ain’t been funky and fiend
maybe I would change a few things.
And yeah we left some tracks behind
but you can’t fix what ain’t broke
And that is
yeah that is all I mean
Come on girl
shouldn’t be up this late
It’s past your bedtime…
Tony Zamora
© 2023
The Man Who Never Cries
As I sat down a teardrop,
fell softly on the bar top.
“Hey stranger, well I always thought, that you never cry”
I wiped it away with my whiskey glass, “Is there something you wanna ask?” Shook my head so the blur would pass, looked you straight in your good eye.
“You’ve known me at my best and have seen me at my worst.
And I’ll tell you something darlin,
you can take it for what it’s worth”.
“That’s hard to swallow like the moonshine in your eyes coming from a man who never cries”.
“You forgot when you were the one, and it was you that was on the run.
A burnt out house and a loaded gun and how you nearly lost that eye”.
I recall maybe feeling once, something akin or even close to trust
but you were always fresh out of luck
in a drunkard’s paradise
You may as well’ve been from the plains ‘cuz being cold runs through your veins.
Just look who’s doin the talking, I’m not the one who brings the rain.
We tried to make it down to Texas
but the truck just up and died
Like the dreams of a man who never cries.
Just one time well I truly wish
you could stop giving me so much shit
if you’re leaving then go on and git
let me here to slowly die
“I didn’t say I was gonna to leave. So I’ll have another if you please
I’ll stick around and bring you to your knees just for old times sake”.
“I’m an honest sort of man
at least I try the best I can”.
“I ain’t the prize for trying,
I fired a shot and off you ran”.
Still you’re the one I’m bound to follow
to the end of the line.
Laughing with the man who never cries.
Laughing with the man who never cries.
Tony Zamora
© 2023
Más Que Nada
You know this woman never does retreat.
With two young children at her feet, her home is clean, in the distance she hears coyotes call.
With a man working hard a world away, sending every penny from his meager pay. They just keep going cause there is no place to fall.
But her eyes can see more than a thousand miles and he feels it every time she smiles and he knows he’s not invisible to her, not at all
She sees his face every single day and says his name every time she prays.
She prays for those for whom she cares más que nada
Más que nada quiero estar contigo
Más que nada quiero ver las caritas de los niños
Más que nada quiero ver
lo grande que han crecido
Más que nada, quiero que tengas
mas de un buen vestido
“Buenos dias”, he hears Patrón say. Boots walking loud, but lookin’ the other way. La Señora says more but she’s really talking to herself.
“I have no illusion, I can be replaced, but I work hard and keep a steady pace. Another day and I’ve learned to keep to myself”.
Back home the children do well in school and it eases the pain of working like a mule.
“They will do better than me”, he says everyday to himself. So he will not break cause’ he is not seen.
He’s used to living life in between these two worlds but still his heart aches más que nada
Más que nada quiero estar contigo
Más que nada quiero ver las caritas de los niños
Más que nada quiero ver
lo grande que han crecido
Más que nada quiero que tengas
mas de un buen vestido
The elders sometime come to him in dreams. So many of them had no means but to scratch out a hard luck life or lay down and die.
So they sent their young ones far away for a better life or so they say. Watch them disappear and hope one day they learn to fly.
We’ve seen this story a million times or more, people from a distant shore. This is our home, the Americas, where we come from.
It’s a funny thing being told you don’t belong when your people have been here all along. Under the same yellow moon and the ones we love más que nada.
Más que nada quiero estar contigo
Más que nada quiero ver
las caritas de los niños
Más que nada quiero ver
lo grande que han crecido
Más que nada quiero que los niños amen sus vidas
Mas que nada quiero que tengas mas de un buen vestido
Tony Zamora
© 2023
One Hand
(Beneath a Waning Moon)
There ain’t but one hand I want to hold
As days go by I watch it growing old
And there ain’t but one kiss I can’t forget
She’ll put it on me and I know we ain’t done yet
Refrain:
She don’t need no flowers
She never cared for silver or gold
She measures love in hours
Our memories just overflow
Yeah our memories just overflow
There ain’t but one hand that held it all
Lifted it like a feather
every kid, cat and dog.
Tends to her garden
like it ain’t no big deal
Keeps it all turning like a keeps it all turning like a big ol ‘ big old wheel
Refrain:
She don’t need no flowers
She never wore silver or gold
She measured our love in hours
Our memories just overflow
Yeah our memories just overflow
Our fireplace still burns as bright
still love the old table where we had all our fights
but darlin’ I”ll be holding you tonight watch that one hand grow old by the waning moonlight
Refrain:
She grows her own damn flowers
She never wore no silver or gold
She measured our love in hours
Our memories just overflow
Yeah our memories just overflow
Tony Zamora
© 2023
Sunday Sinners
Sunday evening rolls around, the table’s set for Sunday dinner.
The talk’s about tithings getting bigger.
We sit and break bread, then get the youngin’s off to bed, since the devil’s cast away we are delivered.
But we’ll start slidin’ again as the week comes to an end,
when we all turn from saints back to sinners.
Pious resolution may not be the best solution
but it’s what’s served at our house for Sunday dinner
Today we’ll remember those of us gone astray
Today we’ll be praying that they all find their way
There’s a question unanswered though faith has it’s claims
There’s a loophole and the devil is to blame
We’ll start slidin’ again as the week comes to an end
when we all turn from saints back to sinners.
Pious resolution may not be the best solution
but it’s what’s served at our house for Sunday dinner.
Tony Zamora, Roberto Rodriguez III
© 2023
MONTERREY
I’m going back to Monterrey, the mountains of Nuevo León.
Where people will know when I say,
“Ay Guëy, en California que lío hicieron”.
I know exactly what’s at stake.
I miss the church bells when they ring.
It leaves me feeling out in the cold,
I long for things that used to be.
I’m going to build me a house
but I won’t be walking the floor
and if you come round here knockin’
You’ll find a stranger at the door
Looks like there might be some rain.
Thunderheads in a Mexican sky.
Gonna head into that coming storm, look it straight in the eye.
I’m going to build me a house but I won’t be walking the floor
and if you come round here knockin’
There’ll be a stranger at the door
Voy a construir una casa
Tal vez un hermoso ranchito
Todo lo que ha qerido
el rio, la luna y un perrito
I’m going to build me a house
but I won’t be walking the floor
and if you come round here knockin’
You’ll find a stranger at the door
Tony Zamora
© 2023
100 Years (every kiss in between)
Verse 1
Will my name be spoken
a hundred years from now?
Will they say I was a good man,
or one who didn’t know how?
Will they know who I am
from just some photos on a wall?
Someone who had everything
and had nothing at all
Chorus:
If I had a nickel,
for every moon that struck me.
For every picture I painted,
for every face I’ve seen
It’d make me a rich man,
every song I bleed
Like finding gold or silver
with every kiss in between
Verse 2:
Sometimes I see a reflection,
city lights in her dark eyes
She leans on me and she listens
and smiles at every bad rhyme
I sing my songs from the shadows.
Sometimes the spotlight finds me.
“I almost felt you touching me just now”, a Blaze as hot as can be
Chorus
If I had a nickel,
for every moon that pulled me,
like a lonesome lost drifter
towards all the places I’ve been.
It’d make me a rich man
every song I bleed for every heart that’s still aching and every kiss in between.
Verse 3
Well I’ve been missing my mama,
her endless faith was the seed
It’s not by mercy alone
you get just what you need.
So if you ever feel lonely
like being adrift out at sea.
Drop a twenty in the tip jar
I’ll bear the the sad songs for free.
Chorus
If I had a nickel,
for every moonlit dream.
Every time my mind faded
to some precious old scene.
It’d make me a rich man,
all those times I’ve dreamed.
Dreams of flying so far away now
and every kiss in between.
Dreams of flying so far away now
and every kiss in between
Tony Zamora, Roberto Rodriguez III
© 2021
Mexicano
Esta noche encantados
por las sombras de la luna mientras bailan.
Nos tumbamos y miramos las estrellas y los sueños que nos traen
Tal belleza te deja sin miedo a la muerte
Entonces amamos cómo vivimos,
y vivimos cómo amamos , es puro Mexicano
Ay, como chinga esta vida locura es difícil y dolorosa para que sepas que es buena
como un Mexicano
Por todo el pavoneo
que cubre el dolor el cariño escondido,
hay un ritmo que late a dentro lo profundo.
que nos hace saber en esta tierra somos eternos.
Derramamos lágrimas de alegría y por un amor triste
Es puro Mexicano
Ay, como chinga esta vida locura es difícil y dolorosa para que sepas que es buena
como un Mexicano
encontramos la felicidad incluso en los malos momentos
Esto es lo que hacemos,
y esto es lo que somos
Puro Mexicano
Tony Zamora
@2023
El Paso
En una casita en la calle Florencia
en el pueblo de El Paso
Alli florecieron las maneras de tu madre con su pasión eterno
En la primavera de mi juventud era feliz y contenta
En esos días lo único que sabía era que la frontera
Sin siquiera notarlo,
nuestro amor profundo
nos alejó del viejo mundo
Soy obrero cruzando por Nuevo Laredo
Llegando a San Quilmas buscando trabajo
el trabajo mas duro
que mi amor no regrese a su pueblo
(Female)
Hechos para siempre estar juntos
No me digas vuelve a San Antonio
Me quedo en El Chuco
Tenía un hogar y era feliz en Monterrey
Pero seguí la estrella del norte
Dejé la tierra de mis padres
La frontera no vale nada
Sigo segura y dichosa
Los países son iguales en ambos lados
Sin siquiera notarlo,
nuestro amor profundo
nos alejó del viejo mundo
Soy obrero cruzando por Nuevo Laredo
Llegando a San Quilmas buscando trabajo
El trabajo mas duro
Fue mantaner nuestro amor desde lejos
Si despierto en tus brazos.
¿Qué importa dónde estemos?
Mi deseo permanece
En mis sueños nos vemos
juntos en El Paso
Tony Zamora, Roberto Rodriguez III
© 2022
Curandera
I’m going down to the riverside, to talk with Liza Mae. She knows Curandera, knows the power of her ways.
Down near Matamoros by the border south Texas way she extricated the evil there, police burned the shack next day.
What do I do, what can I say?
Chorus:
Curandera, ayúdame
Curandera
It’s been said no one compares.
Can’t sleep, I cannot think,
a spell’s taken over me.
I feel love sick, it haunts my nights and all my waking dreams.
Verse 2
I walk the streets of this old Pueblo feels like high noon to me. Curandera she did tell me
“Don’t believe all your dreams”.
There’s a haunting in your vision but it wasn’t put there by she. So If you have half a heart be at the depot at a quarter to three.
What do I do, what does this mean?
Chorus:
Curandera, ayúdame
Curandera
It’s been said no one compares.
Maybe it’s just susto. Please don’t take my soul from me, or am I just love sick? I have a fever running deep.
Bridge:
Verse 3 @ 2:45pm
Off the train she disembarked
Curandera smiling sweet.
Her beauty seemed to float through the air a hot wind howling through the street.
You are such a silly man
big and strong as you can be.
Now why would you, ever be afraid of a little ol’ thing like me? What do I do? How can this be?
Chorus:
Curandera, ayúdame
Curandera
It’s been said no one compares.
Curandera,
Was it you haunting all my dreams?
I’m sick of love, it grows like wild, but to be with you I’d do anything.
Tony Zamora, Cougar Estrada
© 2023
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