Tom Russell - South Coast lyrics

My name is Juan Hano 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 In my youth I had a Monterey homestead Creeks, valleys, mountains all mine I built me a snug little cabin And I roofed it with Monterey pine And I had me a bronc, was a buckskin Like a hawk he could glide over the trail We rode 40 miles every Friday To get me some grub and my mail But the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely You may win a card game in Jolon But the lion still rules the Barranca And a man there is always alone I sat in a card game at Jolon I played there with an hombre named Juan And after I'd taken his money He set all against my daughter Dawn I picked up the ace... I had won her My heart which was down at my feet Jumped up to my throat in a hurry Like a warm 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" Yeah the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely You may win a card game in Jolon But the lion still rules the Barranca And a man there is always alone Her arms had to tighten around me As we rode up the hill from the south Not a word did I hear from her that day Or a kiss from her pretty red mouth We got to the cabin at twilight And the stars twinkled over the coast She soon loved the orchard, the valley But I knew that she loved me the most Oh that was a gay happy winter I carved on a cradle of pine By a fire in that snug little shanty I sang with that sweet wife of mine But the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely You may win a card game in Jolon But the lion still rules the Barranca And a man there is always alone And then I got hurt in a landslide Crushed hip and twice broken bone She saddled up Buck just like lightning Rode off for a doctor in Jolon But the lion screamed in the Barranca Bucky he bolted and he fell on a slide My young wife lay dead in the moonlight My heart died that night with my bride Oh the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely You may win a card game at Jolon But the lion still rules the Barranca And a man there is always alone They buried her out in the orchard They carried me down into town I lost my Chiquita, me??? I'm an old broken man all alone The cabin still stands on the hillside Its doors open wide to the rain Both the cradle and my heart are empty I never can go there again Yeah the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely You may win a card game at Jolon But the lion still rules the Barranca And a man there is always alone