Tab Realm

Rio Grande by Dave Alvin


 


                            Rio Grande
                         



 C

C                                        Am
  I guess she put her blue dress on, and walked out late last night
C                                  Am
  Left one silk stocking, dangling from the bedside light
Dm                                 F
  I sobered up and called her name, just before the dawn
Dm                                      F
  I saw her footprints in the sand, and knew that she had gone
               C     Dm  F
  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

Chorus
Dm               G                  C               Am
  Maybe she’s in Brownsville, she’s got some family there
Dm               G                  C                Am
  She was always talkin’ ‘bout, the salty Gulf Coast air
                       Dm   F            C       Dm   F
  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

Repeat Chorus

  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

Repeat Chorus…Where the river ends









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