lifeblood: songs: lyrics: deportee (plane wreck at los gatos)

the crops are all in
and the peaches are rotting
the oranges are piled
in their creosote dumps
and they're flying them back
to that mexican border
to pay all their money
and wade back again

my father's own father
he waded that river
they took all the money
he made in his life
my brothers and sisters
went working the fruit trees
they rode on that truck
til they laid down and died

goodbye to my juan
goodbye rosalita
adios mis amigos
jesus y maria
you won't have a name
when you ride the big airplane
and all they will call you will be
deportees

some of us are illegal
and others not wanted
our work contracts out
and we've got to move on
six hundred miles to that mexican border
and they chase us like outlaws
like rustlers
like thieves

we died in your hills
and we died in your deserts
we died in your valleys
we died on your plains
we died neath your trees
and we died in your bushes
both sides of the river
we died just the same

goodbye to my juan
goodbye rosalita
adios mis amigos
jesus y maria
you won't have a name
when you ride the big airplane
and all they will call you will be
deportees

well the sky plane caught fire
over los gatos canyon
a fireball of lightning
it shook all our trees
who are all these dear friends
all scattered like dry leaves
the radio tells us
they're just
deportees

well is this the best way
we can grow our big orchards
is this the best way
we can grow our good fruits
to fall like dry leaves
to rot on my topsoil
and be called by no name except
deportees

goodbye to my juan
goodbye rosalita
adios mis amigos
jesus y maria
you won't have a name
when you ride the big airplane
and all they will call you will be
deportees
and all they will call you will be
deportees

words by woody guthrie and music by martin hoffman
as performed by joan baez, mary-chapin carpenter, amy ray, and emily saliers 2017-04-07: barclays center - brooklyn, new york (rock and roll hall of fame induction of joan baez)