Language   

Quicksand

Ry Cooder
Language: English


Ry Cooder

Related Songs

Christmas Time This Year
(Ry Cooder)
The Wall Street Part of Town
(Ry Cooder)


[2010]
Lyrics & Music by Ry Cooder
Album: Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down [2011]
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down

 Susan Meiselas MEXICO. Tijuana. 1989. US/Mexican Border, 1:00 am Arrest of undocumented worker by U.S. Border Patrol near Tijuana. (From the series: CROSSINGS)
Susan Meiselas MEXICO. Tijuana. 1989. US/Mexican Border, 1:00 am Arrest of undocumented worker by U.S. Border Patrol near Tijuana. (From the series: CROSSINGS)


‎"Quicksand" è un brano dedicato all’immigrazione illegale dal Messico in Arizona. Racconta di un ‎gruppo di sei migranti che da Tamaulipas attraverso il deserto di Sonora cercano di raggiungere la ‎‎“Devil’s Highway” per tantare poi di attraversare il confine. Traditi quasi subito dal loro “coyote”, ‎il “passeur” cui avevano dato un sacco di soldi, rimangono in balìa della sete, della fame e della ‎paura. Quattro di loro non si salvano e i due sopravvissuti vengono intercettati da una pattuglia di ‎vigilantes nei pressi di Yuma… Dopo tutta la fatica e la sofferenza, il loro destino è il rimpatrio.‎

“[…] It's been a migrant trail for 200 years. People go out there and try to do it on foot, but if ‎you make one mistake and go five minutes out of your way, you become disorientated and ‎dehydrated. And they find these mummified bodies out there. The heat has just baked them through. ‎And the people who live through it often refer to having a vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe flying ‎overhead. This is a very common vision when the dehydration sets in.” (Ry Cooder in ‎un’intervista alla BBC)‎

(Dead End)
I left my home in Tamaulipas
in Sonoyta i came across
there was but six of us when we started
walking behind the coyote boss

(man's name was Javier, he didn't look right to me.
said 'keep on walking get your coke jug')

an old man said please let me go along with you
yes I'm old but I'm mighty tough
I know the road and maybe I can help you
I got good shoes I won't hold you up

First night we stopped and rested
next morning our guide was gone
the Sinaloa boy was for retreating
the old man said, the mountain's on the right we can't go wrong

but somewhere up on Tenahas Altas, he stumbled and then he fell
he begged and he pleaded but we had to leave him
lyin on Camino Diablo trail

quicksand I think we lost direction
quicksand now we're losin' ground
quicksand nobody round to help us
I think we're sinking down

thought we was getting close to Yuma
I heard it's an unfriendly town
we just need a cool drink of water
even Yuma can't turn a poor boy down
then a Dodge Ram truck drove right down on us
sayin' I'm your vigilante man and I'm here to say your ass just got deported
I'm taking you out just as fast as I can
he said you might be an old typhoid carrier
might be a new drug cartel
suppose you been sent by al kayeda
sure would like to get our hands on Al

Well mister it's 120 degrees back out there
it's just me and the boy, the rest are gone
I think you'd take more pity on rescue pit bull dogs
call us Charles and Bronson from now on

Contributed by DonQuijote82 - 2011/10/4 - 20:05




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org