27 Jun Death Came to Ivanpah
From a platform in Ivanpah came a stranger in summer heat
Swarthy in complexion, he walked alone in the street
A stranger to folks in town, no one asked the stranger’s name
Because a forty-four on his belt said enough as to why he came
Yeah, we knew why he came
He went that afternoon to the only drink in town
He walked in with guitar and it had a smoothest sound
He leaned against the counter and the stranger before long
Recited songs of sorrow and gave his story in his song
Yeah, he told us in his song
The stranger came from Baja, his mother was a tailor
But when he asked of his father, words would always fail her
All he left before he left made the man he came to be
This sunburst guitar and his forty-four for all to see
Yeah, his forty-four we all could see
His father, said his mother, wore the flag of Mexico
He didn’t have a name but went by San Muerto
She passed away alone and vengeful for her sake
Along the way he’d lost count of the lives he’d take
Yeah, how many lives he’d take
He sang in every town to any man that could hear
And he parted his coat to show all his bandoleer
Sang the stranger to bring him the man who gave him breath
Or he’d draw his iron quick and bring every man his death
Yeah, bring us all to our death
His old man wasn’t here or at least that’s what’s said
Still playing his guitar, he slowly shook his head
The stranger spun the chamber and like a fatal twang
Dead fell three men to the sound his bullet rang
Yeah, we heard one bullet rang
From town to every town this was the song he’d play
And as many he visited were all ghost towns today
He said he planned to take the train at five fifteen
By then we’d perish ‘less came a man in red-white-green
Yeah, in Mexico’s red-white-green
Well, in the town in Ivanpah lived an outlaw of sordid sort,
He drank more than a man, a patron for dames of sport
He was grizzled and a killer and went by Tejano Slim,
He croaked when he spoke, the stranger had come for him
Yeah, this stranger’d come for him
Tejano Slim didn’t wear the Mexican three-stripe
And in no way did the stranger and Slim look alike
So the stranger cocked his gun, said there’d be Hell to pay
What did Slim know of the Virgen de Guadalupe
Yeah, of the Virgen de Guadalupe
The outlaw and the stranger stared one another down
When he said it was the name of the church in his hometown
That is where he had met his mother in Mexico
And there was a reason he was known as San Muerto
Yeah, that he was called San Muerto
Like a flash of lightning rolled the stranger ‘cross the room
Iron cleared of leather, Slim about to meet his doom
Came the click of a hammer and the smoke of a gun
A roar of powder settled, Tejano Slim killed his son
Yeah, the outlaw killed his son
Behind Tejano Slim we saw a hole in the wall
And a hole in his chair but no hole in Slim at all
A bullet ripped him not, wherefore a mystery
Tejano Slim stood slow, said a father’s sin ain’t free
Yeah, no father’s sin is free
The outlaw without a word got on the five-fifteen
That’s last of Tejano Slim any man has ever seen
Some say he was an angel, some a demon, but we know
There is in fact a reason they call him San Muerto
Yeah, why we call him San Muerto
Fathers’ sins follow sons where they go
Blood to blood he is still called San Muerto
Yeah, we still call him San Muerto