DOWN THE RIO GRANDE
Tom Russell & Dave Alvin – Frontera Music (ASCAP) / Blue Horn Toad Music (BMI)

Baby pulled her blue dress on and walked out in the night,
left one silk stocking danglin’ from the bedside light.
I sobered up and called her name just before the dawn.
I followed footprints through the sand, I knew where she had gone…
down the Rio Grande… down the Rio Grande.

I pulled out of Albuquerque, must have been past eight.
Four cups of coffee and I hit the interstate.
Rollin’ through Las Cruces, I thought I saw her car.
She always said she’d go someday, she never said how far
down the Rio Grande… down the Rio Grande.

CHORUS:
Maybe she’s in Brownsville, she’s got some family there.
She always talked about the salty gulf coast air
where the river ends… down the Rio Grande.

I saw an old grey heron flyin’ south against the wind,
storm clouds over Juarez rollin’ down to the Big Bend,
I called her name in Esperanza’s dusty desert rain,
but who knows what the hell I’d say if I found her again
on the Rio Grande… down the Rio Grande.

I turned south on Highway 90, sky began to clear,
black mountains out ahead, red sundown, rearview mirror,
and haunted by her dark, wet skin movin’ next to mine,
I swore that things’d change if I could hold her one more time
on the Rio Grande… down the Rio Grande.

REPEAT CHORUS

I bought a bottle in Del Rio, and pulled out off the road,
spent the whole night starin’ at the lights of Mexico.
I walked down to the border bridge about the break of day,
I threw that empty bottle off and I watched it float away
down the Rio Grande… down the Rio Grande.

Now I’m on my way to Brownsville and the Gulf of Mexico.
Just like that empty bottle, I may sink, or else I’ll float
to the river’s end… down the Rio Grande.

Baby pulled her blue dress on and walked out in the night…
down the Rio Grande.

Brian Burns – Vocals, Percussion, Acoustic Rhythm & Lead Guitars, Accordion, 4-Way Nasal Spray
Gary Grammer – Harmonica
Bob Livingston – Backing Vocal

PREVIOUS SONG          NEXT SONG