From the recording Magdalene
Lyrics
Spanish Guns and Aztec Gold
(The Romance of Hernando and Marina)
M. Litton
He rode out of Sonora, boys, like an outlaw of old
Singing vaquero songs from the campo
Tales of Zapata and Poncho
Villa rides!
He quit the red banks of the Rio Yaqui
The adobe hut where he was born
To rustle cattle from rich haciendos
From descendants of Castilian lords
Villa rides!
High in the Sierras, above the chaparral
He butchered the cattle in an Indian corral
Then he rode into Durango, sold the hides to an Anglo
For Spanish guns and some Aztec gold
There he prayed in a chapel before he rode for the border that night
She was the midnight’s bronze-skinned maiden
Colored by the moon
An evening flower for the prince of music
His fair Lady of Guadalupe
Marina!
He taught her the art and the language
Of bandits and thieves and life on the run
He made their rings from a bullet’s brass casing
They vowed their love to the wind and the sun
Hernando!
Have you never kissed the breath of the desert night air
Nor tasted the fruit that sharp cactus bear
Sweet as new music, a woman’s ripe beauty
Like Spanish guns and Aztec gold
She’ll flood the sands of your soul with fire
Soon they were hunted through all of Chihuahua
So they planned their way up to San Joaquin
Hernando sold a man his guitar and his pistols
To smuggle them both to the land of their dreams
California!
At the border the Bracero king led Marina away
He told her it was time she paid for her ride
Hernando grabbed this coyote by the shoulder
And with a long stiletto he took his life
California!
In the high Yankee temple the melting pot stews
The Mexican cornucopia has abundant fruit
Her sons and daughters spill across the deserts and the hills
And the Spanish guns and the Aztec gold
Lay buried in arroyos for the day when La Raza will rise!