• Song:

    Borderline

  • Artist:

    Slaid Cleaves

  • Album:

    Wishbones

A5            C5             G5           A5
In the still of the desert, in the light of the moon, 
  A5      C5        E5
Armando walks all alone
         A5     C5             G5        A5
And the river ahead holds promise and dread 
         F5             E5            A5
And hes nine hundred miles from his home
    A5        C5       G5       A5
He pays the cyotes dodges la megra 
A5          C5         E5
walks for four hungry days
          A5            C5          G5         A5
when he finally hits Austin the boomtown is bustin
        F5                E5      A5
but he takes what the contractor pays

                          Chorus
       C5                  A5
When love for family is stronger than fear
             C5            A5
when the desperation sets in
   C5                  A5
a man will cross any line that is drawn
      F5                 E5
and whos to say it's a sin
          A5      C5             G5    A5
and he crossed himself at the borderline

                        

                     the rest of the song is the same thing

He wired the dollars to Elena back home as he roomed with ten desperate men
when the builders had enough, the INS cuffed him , and it's back to the border again

                                 chorus

A tearful reunion with family and friends, but soon the reality sets in
theres no work to be found in the dry desert ground 
he must head to estados again


                             mandolin break

from Guadalajara came the man with no name
he said "You can have all that you need."
"There's no contract to sign but the terms are your life, 
if you take my money and seed"

                             chorus


the payments were made, the seed it was sown
Armando watched the crop grow
even his brother in law in the army, was in on the plan from the go

7 months gone and the crops gathered in
but the brother has a plan of his own
he orders a raid, the army invades
and he takes what the village has grown

                            mandolin break

in from the west came the man with no name
he said "someone must pay with their life
"we know your brother's, your father, your mother
your children, your sister, your wife"

"Now we can not touch your sisters young husband
Tu Canoa is a military man
but you can decide who lives and who dies"
as he placed the gun in his hand

                               chorus

in the still of the desert, in the light of the moon
Armando walks all alone
and the river ahead holds promise and dread
and he's nine hundred miles from his home
Show more