Corrido De Pharr, Texas by Rumel Fuentes

I wrote about this song and discussed it in an earlier entry here at Pharr From Heaven, but I finally figured out how to upload it on YouTube. In the earlier entry, I posted the Spanish lyrics, information about Rumel Fuentes and the events that lead to this corrido, so make sure to check it out if this is all foreign to you. On this entry, I'm going to post the English lyrics that Arhoolie produced so some of our English-only speaking friends can also follow along. Enjoy the song, and I would like to hear your thoughts.

Ballad of Pharr, Texas
They say that in Pharr there are serpents
with the head of a pig,
and among the people of Pharr
they have gringo Mexicans.

A mayor who is in command,
many are the errand boys,
bought ones who have sold out,
oh, what damn horse thieves.

The federal commission said,
-Why should the law be admired
if those same officials
have criminal records?

There are four or five witnesses
of much police brutality.
You can hear screams in the cells;
this is barbarism.

A quiet protest
against the police,
the people denounced them
for things that were known.

They killed Poncho Flores,
it was a policeman in Pharr;
a man who wears a gun
you cannot trust.

You who killed Flores,
this will not be forgotten.
Take care of all that you do
or with God you will have to pay.

Now in various towns of Aztlán
this at one time happened,
and it will keep on happening
if we do not organize.

Fly, fly little dove,
land on that cactus plant,
and here we finish singing
about what happened there in Pharr.

You can pick up Rumel Fuentes' 'Corridos of the Chicano Movement' CD or hear samples at Arhoolie Records or Amazon.