Released: November 21, 1995
Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen
Producer: Chuck Plotkin Bruce Springsteen
[Verse 1]
I got my discharge from Fort Irwin
Took a place on the San Diego County line
Felt funny being a civilian again
It'd been some time
[Verse 2]
My wife had died a year ago
I was still trying to find my way back whole
I went to work for the INS on the line
With the California Border Patrol
[Verse 3]
Bobby Ramirez was a ten-year veteran
And we became friends
His family was from Guanajuato
So the job, it was different for him
[Verse 4]
He said, "They risk death in the deserts and the mountains
Pay all they got to the smugglers' rings
We send them home, and they come right back again
Carl, hunger is a powerful thing."
[Verse 5]
Well, I was good at doing what I was told
Kept my uniform pressed and clean
At night, I chased their shadows
Through the arroyos and ravines
[Verse 6]
Drug runners, farmers with their families
Young women with little children by their sides
Come night, we'd wait out in the canyons
Try to keep 'em from crossing the line
[Verse 7]
Well, the first time that I saw her
She was in the holding pen
Our eyes met and she looked away
Then she looked back again
[Verse 8]
Her hair was black as coal
Her eyes reminded me of what I'd lost
She had a young child crying in her arms
I asked, "Señora, is there anything I can do?"
[Verse 9]
There's a bar in Tijuana
Where me and Bobby drink with
The same people we'd sent back the day before
We met there, she said her name was Louisa
[Verse 10]
She was from Sonora and had just come north
We danced, I held her in my arms, I knew what I would do
She said she had some family in Madera County
If she, her child and younger brother could just get through
[Verse 11]
At night, they come across the levee
In the searchlight's dusty glow
We'd rush them in our Broncos
Force them back down into the river below
[Verse 12]
She climbed into my truck
She leaned toward me and we kissed
As we drove, her brother's shirt slipped open
And I saw the tape across his chest
[Verse 13]
We were just about on the highway
When Bobby's Jeep come up in the dust on my right
I pulled over and let my engine run
And stepped out into his lights
[Verse 14]
I felt myself moving
Felt my gun resting beneath my hand
We just stood there staring at each other
As off through the arroyo she ran
[Verse 15]
Bobby Ramirez, he never said nothing
Six months later, I left the line
I drifted to the central valley
And took what work that I could find
[Verse 16]
At night I searched the local bars
And the migrant towns
Looking for my Louisa
With the black hair falling down
I got my discharge from Fort Irwin
Took a place on the San Diego County line
Felt funny being a civilian again
It'd been some time
[Verse 2]
My wife had died a year ago
I was still trying to find my way back whole
I went to work for the INS on the line
With the California Border Patrol
[Verse 3]
Bobby Ramirez was a ten-year veteran
And we became friends
His family was from Guanajuato
So the job, it was different for him
[Verse 4]
He said, "They risk death in the deserts and the mountains
Pay all they got to the smugglers' rings
We send them home, and they come right back again
Carl, hunger is a powerful thing."
[Verse 5]
Well, I was good at doing what I was told
Kept my uniform pressed and clean
At night, I chased their shadows
Through the arroyos and ravines
[Verse 6]
Drug runners, farmers with their families
Young women with little children by their sides
Come night, we'd wait out in the canyons
Try to keep 'em from crossing the line
[Verse 7]
Well, the first time that I saw her
She was in the holding pen
Our eyes met and she looked away
Then she looked back again
[Verse 8]
Her hair was black as coal
Her eyes reminded me of what I'd lost
She had a young child crying in her arms
I asked, "Señora, is there anything I can do?"
[Verse 9]
There's a bar in Tijuana
Where me and Bobby drink with
The same people we'd sent back the day before
We met there, she said her name was Louisa
[Verse 10]
She was from Sonora and had just come north
We danced, I held her in my arms, I knew what I would do
She said she had some family in Madera County
If she, her child and younger brother could just get through
[Verse 11]
At night, they come across the levee
In the searchlight's dusty glow
We'd rush them in our Broncos
Force them back down into the river below
[Verse 12]
She climbed into my truck
She leaned toward me and we kissed
As we drove, her brother's shirt slipped open
And I saw the tape across his chest
[Verse 13]
We were just about on the highway
When Bobby's Jeep come up in the dust on my right
I pulled over and let my engine run
And stepped out into his lights
[Verse 14]
I felt myself moving
Felt my gun resting beneath my hand
We just stood there staring at each other
As off through the arroyo she ran
[Verse 15]
Bobby Ramirez, he never said nothing
Six months later, I left the line
I drifted to the central valley
And took what work that I could find
[Verse 16]
At night I searched the local bars
And the migrant towns
Looking for my Louisa
With the black hair falling down
more tracks from the album
From the album
- The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995)
Bruce Springsteen popular songs
- Born in the U.S.A.
- Born to Run
- Dancing in the Dark
- I’m On Fire
- Thunder Road
- Blinded by the Light
- The River
- Atlantic City
- Hungry Heart
- Jungleland
- Glory Days
- Badlands
- My Hometown
- Streets of Philadelphia
- Backstreets
- The Ghost of Tom Joad
- Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
- Secret Garden
- Racing in the Street
- Nebraska
- I’m Goin’ Down
- Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
- Growin’ Up
- The Rising