South Coast Lyrics - The Western Years - Tom Russell

My name is Juanano de Castro 

My father was a Spanish Grandee 

But I won my wife in a card game 

To hell with those lords o'er the sea 

Well the South Coast is wild coast and lonely 

You might win in a game at Cholon 

But a lion still rules the Barranca 

And a man there is always alone 

I played in a card game at Jolon 

I played there with an outlaw named Juan 

And after I'd taken his money 

I staked all against his daughter Dawn 

I picked up the ace...l had won her 

My heart it was down at my feet 

Jumped up to my throat in a hurry 

Like a young summer's day she was sweet 

He opened the door to the kitchen 

And he called the girl out with a curse 

Saying "Take her, Goddamn her, you've won her 

She's yours now for better or worse" 

Her arms had to tighten around me 

As we rode down the hills to the south 

Not a word did I hear from her that day 

Nor a kiss from her pretty young mouth 

But that was a gay happy winter 

We carved on a cradle of pine 

By the fire in that neat little cabin 

And I sang with that gay wife of mine 

Well the South Coast is wild coast and lonely 

You might win in a game at Cholon 

But a lion still rules the Barranca 

And a man there is always alone 

That night I got hurt in a landslide 

Crushed hip and twice broken bone 

She saddled her pony like lightning 

And rode off for the doctor in Cholon 

The lion screamed in the Barranca 

Buck, he bolted and he fell on his side 

My young wife lay dead in the moonlight 

My heart died that night with my bride 

Well the South Coast is wild coast and lonely 

You might win in a game at Cholon 

But a lion still rules the Barranca 

And a man there is always alone