GeoCities.us GeoCities.us » Nashville » Honkytonk Get your FREE home page!

MIS CORRIDOS
back to the main page

Here are four of mine. The Spanish is the song. The English beside it is mine too, and I didn't try to make it rhyme. A corrido turned into English rhymes stops telling the truth, and I'd rather it tell the truth. If you speak both, you'll see where I cheated a little.

These are all my own words. If you want to sing one at your dance, go ahead, and tell them who wrote it. If you want to record one, write me first.

The songs: El Corrido de Antonio Treviño · El Corrido de los Halcones · El Corrido de la Empacadora · El Corrido de Marisol Torrez

EL CORRIDO DE ANTONIO TREVIÑO
The Ballad of Antonio Treviño

ESPAÑOLENGLISH
Señores, con su permiso,
y con licencia de Dios,
la vida de un hombre bueno
les canto con esta voz.		Gentlemen, with your permission,
and by the leave of God,
the life of a good man
I sing to you in this voice.
En mil novecientos treinta
vio la luz Toño Treviño
en un jacal de mezquite
en este Valle tan mío.		In nineteen hundred thirty
Toño Treviño first saw the light,
in a shack of mesquite poles
in this Valley that is mine.
A los doce ya pizcaba
algodón bajo el calor,
con un costal en la espalda
de sol a sol, sin rencor.		At twelve he was already picking
cotton in the heat,
with a sack across his back
from sun to sun, with no bitterness.
Y cada año en primavera
se iban todos para el norte,
al betabel, la cereza,
sin quejarse aquel buen hombre.		And every year in springtime
they all went north,
to the sugar beets, the cherries,
and that good man never complained.
Cuarenta años en el surco,
y nunca les faltó el pan
a seis hijos que crecieron
y aprendieron a estudiar.		Forty years in the furrow,
and there was always bread
for six children who grew up
and learned to study.
Hoy tiene sesenta y nueve
y se levanta a las cuatro
a regar sus limoneros
y a mirar el sol un rato.		Today he is sixty-nine
and he gets up at four
to water his lemon trees
and watch the sun awhile.
Aquí termino, señores,
el corrido de mi padre:
Dios le dé muchos más años
y que Él lo guarde y lo ampare.		Here I finish, gentlemen,
the corrido of my father:
may God give him many more years,
and keep him, and watch over him.

About this one: For my father. He still gets up at four in the morning, even though there is nothing left to pick but his own lemons. We play this one at his birthday every March, and every year, at the fifth verse, he gets up and goes outside to check on something.

How we play it: Two-four, in G. Eddie takes the accordion break after the fourth verse.

EL CORRIDO DE LOS HALCONES
The Ballad of the Falcons

ESPAÑOLENGLISH
Hoy les canto a los Halcones,
muchachos de nuestra escuela,
que en el año noventa y ocho
hicieron cantar la tierra.		Today I sing to the Falcons,
the boys of our school,
who in the year ninety-eight
made the whole land sing.
Treinta años sin ganar nada,
y el pueblo ya no creía,
hasta que llegó aquel año
con su fe y su valentía.		Thirty years without winning a thing,
and the town had stopped believing,
until that year came along
with its faith and its courage.
Los viernes en el estadio
no cabía un alfiler,
las abuelas con cobijas
y el pueblo entero de pie.		Friday nights at the stadium
you couldn't have fit a pin,
the grandmothers in blankets
and the whole town on its feet.
Ganaron en el distrito
y luego en los playoffs dos,
y en San Antonio, en noviembre,
les tocó decir adiós.		They won the district,
and then two in the playoffs,
and in San Antonio, in November,
their turn came to say goodbye.
Perdieron por cuatro puntos,
pero nadie se quejó;
la caravana de carros
doscientas millas siguió.		They lost by four points,
but nobody complained;
the caravan of cars
followed them two hundred miles.
Halcones, ya me despido,
muchachos de corazón;
que el otro año, si Dios quiere,
regresen por la ilusión.		Falcons, I take my leave,
boys with heart;
next year, God willing,
come back for the dream.

About this one: Our high school football team, the fall of 1998. My nephew played left guard. I wrote this the week after they lost, sitting in the van in the parking lot at the packing house on my lunch hour. When the caravan came home that night, after midnight, the volunteer fire department turned on the siren for them.

How we play it: Two-four, fast. Joe plays it like a marching band and nobody can stop him.

EL CORRIDO DE LA EMPACADORA
The Ballad of the Packing Shed

ESPAÑOLENGLISH
Les voy a cantar, señores,
de una empacadora vieja
que estaba junto a las vías,
hoy cerrada con su reja.		I'm going to sing to you, gentlemen,
of an old packing shed
that stood beside the railroad tracks,
locked today behind its gate.
El año cuarenta y seis
un tal Worden la fundó;
de toronja y de naranja
¡cuántos camiones cargó!		In the year forty-six
a man named Worden started it;
with grapefruit and with oranges,
how many trucks it loaded!
Allí trabajó mi madre,
y yo de joven también;
ciento cuarenta empacando
al ritmo de aquel vaivén.		My mother worked there,
and I did too, when I was young;
a hundred and forty of us packing
to the rhythm of that back-and-forth.
Pero en el ochenta y nueve,
antes de la Nochebuena,
cayó la helada más fuerte
y se heló la huerta entera.		But in eighty-nine,
just before Christmas Eve,
the hardest freeze came down
and the whole orchard froze.
Cerraron en el noventa,
un lunes por la mañana;
nos dieron un cheque y gracias
y cada quien a su casa.		They closed it in ninety,
on a Monday morning;
they gave us a check and a thank-you,
and everyone went home.
Hoy nomás quedan los muros
y el letrero despintado,
pero el olor a azahar
en el aire se ha quedado.		Today only the walls are left
and the faded sign,
but the smell of orange blossom
has stayed on in the air.
Con esto me voy, señores,
no los quiero entristecer;
la empacadora está muerta,
pero el Valle sigue en pie.		With this I go, gentlemen;
I don't want to make you sad.
The packing shed is dead,
but the Valley is still standing.

About this one: I worked at the Worden packing shed from the summer I was eighteen until the morning it closed, and my mother worked there before me. Old Mr. Worden started it after the war. His son ran it at the end, and he was a decent man, and I don't blame him. The freeze of December 1989 killed more trees in this Valley than anybody could count. A lot of the groves have been replanted since, and the young trees are bearing now, which is why the sixth verse says what it says. I play this one slow.

How we play it: Three-four, valseado. The only waltz of the four.

EL CORRIDO DE MARISOL TORREZ
The Ballad of Marisol Torrez

ESPAÑOLENGLISH
Escuchen, primos y tíos,
lo que les vengo a contar:
mi prima Marisol Torrez
ya regresó a su lugar.		Listen, cousins and uncles,
to what I've come to tell you:
my cousin Marisol Torrez
has come back where she belongs.
En agosto, el día diez,
del noventa y nueve fue;
llegó en avión a McAllen
con su uniforme y su fe.		In August, on the tenth,
of ninety-nine it was;
she flew into McAllen
with her uniform and her faith.
Seis años sirvió en el Army,
allá en Alemania y Bosnia,
cuidando la paz ajena
como una buena patriota.		Six years she served in the Army,
over in Germany and Bosnia,
keeping other people's peace
like a good patriot.
Su mamá estaba esperando
con globos y una pancarta,
y su abuela de noventa
con lágrimas en la cara.		Her mother was waiting
with balloons and a banner,
and her grandmother, ninety years old,
with tears on her face.
El domingo hubo una fiesta,
barbacoa y tamalitos,
y tocamos hasta tarde
polkas, valses y corridos.		On Sunday there was a party,
barbacoa and tamales,
and we played until late,
polkas, waltzes and corridos.
Ya se inscribió en el colegio
con lo que el Army le dio,
y quiere ser enfermera
aquí, donde ella nació.		She's already signed up for college
with what the Army gave her,
and she wants to be a nurse
here, where she was born.
Marisol, ya me despido;
bienvenida a tu frontera;
que la Virgen te acompañe
por la vida que te espera.		Marisol, I take my leave;
welcome home to your border;
may the Virgin go with you
through the life that's waiting for you.

About this one: Brand new. My cousin Marisol came home from the Army on Tuesday, August 10, after six years, and we played this for the first time at her party that Sunday. Her mother made us play it three times. Marisol says the part about the balloons is too much. Her mother says it isn't enough. The grandmother in the fourth verse is my grandmother too. She is ninety, and she stayed at the party until eleven.

How we play it: Two-four. Eddie wrote a new accordion run for the end of every verse, and it's the best thing he's done all year.

I'm working on a fifth one, about the night the power went out at a quinceañera and the band played on by flashlight. It needs a better ending. So did the quinceañera.

Back to the main page  |  [email protected]
Last updated September 20, 1999