Rio Grande

Dave Alvin/Tom Russell
 (Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI/Frontera Music, ASCAP)
 I guess she put her blue dress on
 And walked out late last night
 Left one silk stocking
 Dangling from the bedside light
 I sobered up and called her name
 Just before the dawn
 I saw her footprints in the sand
 And knew that she had gone
 Down the Rio Grande.
 I pulled out of Albuquerque
 Prayin' I wasn't late
 I got a couple cups of coffee
 At some joint off the interstate
 Passin' through Las Cruces
 I swear I saw her car
 She always said she'd go someday
 But never said how far
 Down the Rio Grande.
 Maybe she's in Brownsville
 She's got some family there
 She was always talkin' 'bout
 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' east to the Big Bend
 I drove down Highway Ninety
 Through a dusty desert wind
 I didn't know where it would lead me
 Or if I'd find her again
 Down the Rio Grande.
 I lit my last cigarette
 As the sky began to clear
 Black mountains up ahead
 A red sundown in my mirror
 Lost all the border
 'Tween the future and the past
 One fading slowly
 And the other comin' fast
 Down the Rio Grande.
 Maybe she's in Brownsville
 She's got some family there
 She was always talkin' 'bout
 The salty gulf coast air
 Where the river ends
 Down the Rio Grande.
 I bought a bottle in Del Rio
 And I parked on the side of the road
 I stayed up all night
 Starin' at the lights of Mexico
 And I walked down to border bridge
 At the break of day
 And I threw that empty bottle off
 And I watched it float away
 Down the Rio Grande.
 Maybe she's in Brownsville
 She's got some family there
 She was always talkin 'bout
 The salty gulf coast air
 Where the river ends
 Down the Rio Grande
 Where the river ends.