"California Snow" Dave Alvin/Tom Russell (Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, and Frontera Music, ASCAP, administered by Bug Music)
I'm just tryin' to make a livin' I'm an old man at thirty-nine With two kids and an ex-wife Who moved up to Riverside
I'm workin' down on the border Drivin' back roads every night Mountains east of El Cajon North of the Tecate line.
Where the California summer sun Will burn right through your soul But in the winter you can freeze to death In the California snow.
I catch the ones I'm able to And watch the others slip away I know some by their faces And I even know some by name
I guess they think that we're all Movie stars and millionaires I guess that they still believe That dreams come true up here.
But I guess the weather's warmer down in Mexico And no one ever tells them 'bout the California snow.
Last winter I found a man and wife Just about daybreak Layin' in a frozen ditch South of the interstate
I wrapped 'em both in blankets But she'd already died The next day we sent him back alone Across the borderline.
I don't know where they came from Or where they planned to go But we carried her all night long Through the California snow.
Sometimes when I'm alone out here I get to thinkin' about my life Maybe I should go to Riverside And try to fix things with my wife
Or maybe just get in my truck And drive as far as I can go Away from all the ghosts that haunt The California snow.
Where the California summer sun Can burn right to your soul And in the winter you can freeze to death In the California snow. -- Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles