Desire

Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun
Dust on my face and my cape,
Me and magdalena on the run
I think this time we shall escape.

Sold my guitar to the baker's son
For a few crumbs and a place to hide,
But i can get another one
And i'll play for magdalena as we ride.

No llores, mi querida
Dios nos vigila
Soon the horse will take us to durango.
Agarrame, mi vida
Soon the desert will be gone
Soon you will be dancing the fandango.

Past the aztec ruins and the ghosts of our people
Hoofbeats like castanets on stone.
At night i dream of bells in the village steeple
Then i see the bloody face of ramon.

Was it me that shot him down in the cantina
Was it my hand that held the gun?
Come, let us fly, my magdalena
The dogs are barking and what's done is done.

No llores, mi querida
Dios nos vigila
Soon the horse will take us to durango.
Agarrame, mi vida
Soon the desert will be gone
Soon you will be dancing the fandango.

At the corrida we'll sit in the shade
And watch the young torero stand alone.
We'll drink tequila where our grandfathers stayed
When they rode with villa into torreon.

Then the padre will recite the prayers of old
In the little church this side of town.
I will wear new boots and an earring of gold
You'll shine with diamonds in your wedding gown.

The way is long but the end is near
Already the fiesta has begun.
The face of god will appear
With his serpent eyes of obsidian.

No llores, mi querida
Dios nos vigila
Soon the horse will take us to durango.
Agarrame, mi vida
Soon the desert will be gone
Soon you will be dancing the fandango.

Was that the thunder that i heard?
My head is vibrating, i feel a sharp pain
Come sit by me, don't say a word
Oh, can it be that i am slain?

Quick, magdalena, take my gun
Look up in the hills, that flash of light.
Aim well my little one
We may not make it through the night.

No llores, mi querida
Dios nos vigila
Soon the horse will take us to durango.
Agarrame, mi vida
Soon the desert will be gone
Soon you will be dancing the fandango.

I laid on a dune, i looked at the sky,
When the children were babies and played on the beach.
You came up behind me, i saw you go by,
You were always so close and still within reach.

Sara, sara,
Whatever made you want to change your mind?
Sara, sara,
So easy to look at, so hard to define.

I can still see them playin' with their pails in the sand,
They run to the water their buckets to fill.
I can still see the shells fallin' out of their hands
As they follow each other back up the hill.

Sara, sara,
Sweet virgin angel, sweet love of my life,
Sara, sara,
Radiant jewel, mystical wife.

Sleepin' in the woods by a fire in the night,
Drinkin' white rum in a portugal bar,
Them playin' leapfrog and hearin' about snow white,
You in the marketplace in savanna-la-mar.

Sara, sara,
It's all so clear, i could never forget,
Sara, sara,
Lovin' you is the one thing i'll never regret.

I can still hear the sounds of those methodist bells,
I'd taken the cure and had just gotten through,
Stayin' up for days in the chelsea hotel,
Writin' "sad-eyed lady of the lowlands" for you.

Sara, sara,
Wherever we travel we're never apart.
Sara, oh sara,
Beautiful lady, so dear to my heart.

How did i meet you? i don't know.
A messenger sent me in a tropical storm.
You were there in the winter, moonlight on the snow
And on lily pond lane when the weather was warm.

Sara, oh sara,
Scorpio sphinx in a calico dress,
Sara, sara,
You must forgive me my unworthiness.

Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp
And a piece of an old ship that lies on the shore.
You always responded when i needed your help,
You gimme a map and a key to your door.

Sara, oh sara,
Glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow,
Sara, oh sara,
Don't ever leave me, don't ever go.

I like to spend some time in mozambique
The sunny sky is aqua blue
And all the couples dancing cheek to cheek.
It's very nice to stay a week or two.

There's lots of pretty girls in mozambique
And plenty time for good romance
And everybody likes to stop and speak
To give the special one you seek a chance
Or maybe say hello with just a glance.

Lying next to her by the ocean
Reaching out and touching her hand,
Whispering your secret emotion
Magic in a magical land.

And when it's time for leaving mozambique,
To say goodbye to sand and sea,
You turn around to take a final peek
And you see why it's so unique to be
Among the lovely people living free
Upon the beach of sunny mozambique.

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter patty valentine from the upper hall.
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "my god, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Three bodies lyin' there does patty see
And another man named bello, movin' around mysteriously.
"i didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands
"i was only robbin' the register, i hope you understand.
I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops
"one of us had better call up the cops."
And so patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
In the hot new jersey night.

Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that.
In paterson that's just the way things go.
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'less you wanna draw the heat.

Alfred bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.
Him and arthur dexter bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said, "i saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."
And miss patty valentine just nodded her head.
Cop said, "wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.

Four in the mornin' and they haul rubin in,
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Says, "wha'd you bring him in here for? he ain't the guy!"
Yes, here's the story of the hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,
Rubin's in south america, fightin' for his name
While arthur dexter bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame.
"remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"you think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
"don't forget that you are white."

Arthur dexter bradley said, "i'm really not sure."
Cops said, "a poor boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.
You'll be doin' society a favor.
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no gentleman jim."

Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
It's my work, he'd say, and i do it for pay
And when it's over i'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail.
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.

All of rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The d.a. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.

Rubin carter was falsely tried.
The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?
Bello and bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.

Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While rubin sits like buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell.
That's the story of the hurricane,
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Up on the white veranda
She wears a necktie and a panama hat.
Her passport shows a face
From another time and place
She looks nothin' like that.
And all the remnants of her recent past
Are scattered in the wild wind.
She walks across the marble floor
Where a voice from the gambling room is callin' her to come on in.
She smiles, walks the other way
As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
From black diamond bay.

As the mornin' light breaks open, the greek comes down
And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write.
"pardon, monsieur," the desk clerk says,
Carefully removes his fez,
"am i hearin' you right?"
And as the yellow fog is liftin'
The greek is quickly headin' for the second floor.
She passes him on the spiral staircase
Thinkin' he's the soviet ambassador,
She starts to speak, but he walks away
As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway
On black diamond bay.

A soldier sits beneath the fan
Doin' business with a tiny man who sells him a ring.
Lightning strikes, the lights blow out.
The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout,
"can you see anything?"
Then the greek appears on the second floor
In his bare feet with a rope around his neck,
While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle,
Says, "open up another deck."
But the dealer says, "attendez-vous, s'il vous plait,''
As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
From black diamond bay.

The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough.
He tried to grab the woman's hand,
Said, "here's a ring, it cost a grand."
She said, "that ain't enough."
Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb.
She passed the door that the greek had locked,
Where a handwritten sign read, "do not disturb."
She knocked upon it anyway
As the sun went down and the music did play
On black diamond bay.

"i've got to talk to someone quick!"
But the greek said, "go away," and he kicked the chair to the floor.
He hung there from the chandelier.
She cried, "help, there's danger near
Please open up the door!"
Then the volcano erupted
And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above.
The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
Thinking of forbidden love.
But the desk clerk said, "it happens every day,"
As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
On black diamond bay.

As the island slowly sank
The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room.
The dealer said, "it's too late now.
You can take your money, but i don't know how
You'll spend it in the tomb."
The tiny man bit the soldier's ear
As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew,
While she's out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her,
"my darling, je vous aime beaucoup."
She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
From black diamond bay.

I was sittin' home alone one night in l.a.,
Watchin' old cronkite on the seven o'clock news.
It seems there was an earthquake that
Left nothin' but a panama hat
And a pair of old greek shoes.
Didn't seem like much was happenin',
So i turned it off and went to grab another beer.
Seems like every time you turn around
There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear
And there's really nothin' anyone can say
And i never did plan to go anyway
To black diamond bay.