Sonora's Death Row

Mescal is free in Amanda's saloon for the boys from the old Broken Hole Saturday nights in the town of Sonora are the best in all Mexico They've got guitars and trumpets and sweet senoritas who won't want to let you go You'd never believe such a happy town had a street called Sonora's death row Inside Amanda's we were all dancing with six of Amanda's gals I won some silver at 7-card stud so I was outdoing my pals But the whiskey and mescal and peso cigars drove me outside for some air Somebody whispered "Your life or your money," I reached but my gun wasn't there I woke up face down in Amanda's back alley, aware of the fool I had been Rushed to a saddle and grabbed someone's rifle and entered Amanda's again Where I saw my partners twirling my pistol and throwing my money around Blinded by anger, I jacked the lever and one of them fell to the ground Amanda's got silent like night in the desert, my friends stared in pure disbelief Amanda was kneeling beside the dead cowboy plainly expressing her grief And as I bowed my head a tremble shot through me, my pistol was still at my side I felt my pockets and there was my money, I fell to my knees and I cried A nightmare of mescal was all that it was, no one had robbed me at all I wish I was dreaming the sound of the gallows they're testing just outside the wall And the mescal's still free in Amanda's saloon for the boys from the old Broken Hole I'd pay a ransom to drink there today and be free of Sonora's death row --- Sonora's Death Row - Leo Kottke