The Best of Tish Hinojosa Live


LAUGHING RUNS THE RIVER/RILLENDO CORRE EL RIO
By Tish Hinojosa

Intro to "Laughing River". Excerpt from "La Llorona" (the Weeping Woman") traditional Mexican folksong.

Salias del templo un día llorona
(you were leaving the temple one day, Llorona)
Cuando al pasar yo te vi
(As I passed I saw you)
(Repeat)
Hermoso huipil llevavas Llorona
( A beautiful shawl you wore, Llorona)
Que La Virgen te crei
(That I believed you to be the virgen)
Corre corre, corre el rio
Rillendo el rio corre
Corre corre, corre el rio
Rillendo el rio corre
Bridge
Cuentame de las montañas, de tu empesar
Cuente de piedra y pena que llevas al mar
Corre corre, corre el rio
Rillendo el rio corre
Corre corre, corre el rio
Rillendo el rio corre
Running running, laughing river
Laughing river running
Tell me of the highland mountains that your eyes have seen
Tell me of the stones and sorrows you take to the sea
Running running, laughing river
Laughing river running
Corre corre, corre el rio
Rillendo el rio corre

© + (P) 1996 WB Music/ Maverick Music/ Manazo Music

AQUELLA NOCHE
(That certain night)
By Tish Hinojosa

Sera, pasa la mirada
(Could be, the look could pass)
De amor en la madrugada
(Of love at Dawn)
Que ves que el fuego ya se fue?
(What, do you see the fire gone out)
No, mi corazón yo te llevare
(No my love, I'll take you there)
(Chorus)
Dime que me quieres
(Tell me that you love me)
Como aquella noche
(Like that certain night)
Con aquellos besos en aquel lugar
(With those kisses at that certain place)
Pintame montaña y monte
(Paint me mountain and desert)
Estrellado el horisonte
(star filled horizon)
Dime como aquella noche
(Tell me like that night)
Dime con amor
(Tell me with love)
Vendra risa sonriente
(It shall come that smile)
En brisa sauve por la frente
(On a breeze soft upon your face)
Veras otro amanacer
(You'll see a different daybreak)
Con solo dos palabras de nuestro ayer
(With only two words from our yesterday)

Taos to Tennessee
By Tish Hinojosa

I've been on a one track
Guess there's no more looking back with out you
I've known lonliness before
Here it's knockin at my door again
What's been done and what's been said
One love's gone and my head's all for leavin'
Taos is home but signs look good
And my mind's on that road to Tennessee
CHO. Western sky shinin' warm upon my back
Save a fiery setting sun for me
Misty eye needs a starry southern night
To shine a trail from Taos to Tennessee
Times are fast, dreams move slow
Nashville and New Mexico's the same
And if I could have my way
I'd take your love when I leave town today
Mountain sage dessert pine
How I hate to leave it all behind
Southern ways are new to me
For a song it's where I wanna be
Chorus

In the Real West
By Tish Hinojosa

It's the way of life in the real west
'Neath a prairie moon that's heaven blessed
And a tall boot shuffle on a wooden floor
It's a clean white shirt on a Saturday night
And a long cold beer that's pure delight
And if you heard me say it, well there's a whole lot more
Chorus
It's the way of life in the real west
I'm a city girl but I must confess
I'd be a cowboy angel and I know what for
It's the way of life in the real west
Where your time is yours when the sun sets
And the stars rise up to light the western sky
Laredo up north to Cimarron
If I'm lost, you know I've gone
To where the spurs that jingle are the workin' kind
It's the way of life in the real west
And if I had my way I guess
I'd ride and rope and wrangle till the day I die
Chorus
© 1992 Manazo Music (ASCAP)

BANDERA DE SOL
(Flag of the sun)
By Tish Hinojosa

Brinde a ti brinde a mi estanmos aquí
Que Banderas son nuestro creer
Somos tu somos y la fuerza de dos
Banderas de nuestro poder
Decisión de razón mano sobre corazón
Bajo luz de bandera del sol
Decisión de razón mano sobre corazón
Bajo luz de bandera del sol
Brinde a tierra y paz fuerza de humanidad
Bajo luz de bandra del sol
Here's to you here's to me as we stand on our feet
While flags wave above our desires
We are me, we are you with the power of two
A banner of hope set on fire
A decision to start, hand held over our heart
'Neath the light of the flag of the sun
A decision to start, hand held over our heart
'Neath the light of the flag of the sun
Here's to earth and to peace, faith in humanity
'Neath the light of the flag of the sun
Brinde a tierra y paz fuerza de humanidad
Bajo luz de bandera del sol
'Neath the light of the flag of the sun
Bajo luz de bandera del sol

*Translation note: the English lyrics paraphrase the Spanish lyrics

© 1991, Manazo Music

DONDE VOY
(Where I go)
By Tish Hinojosa

Madrugada me ve corriendo
(Daybreak finds me running)
Bajo cielo que empieza color
(Under a sky that's beginning to color)
No me salgas sol a nombrarme
(Sun please don't expose me)
A la fuerza de "la migración"
(To the force of the INS)
Un dolor que siento en el pecho
(The pain that I feel in my chest)
Es mi alma que llore de amor
(Is my heart that hurts for love)
Pienso en ti y tus brazos que esperan
(I think of you and your arms that wait)
Tus besos y tu passión
(Your kisses and your passion)
(Chorus)
Donde voy, donde voy
(Where I go, where I go)
Esperanza es mi destinación
(Hope is my destination)
Solo estoy, solo estoy
(I'm alone, I'm alone)
Por el monte profugo me voy
(Through the desert, a fugitive, I go)
Dias semanas y meces
(Days, weeks and months)
Pasa muy lejos de ti
(Pass far away from you)
Muy pronto tu llega dinero
(Soon you'll receive some money)
Yo te quiero tener junto a mi
(I want to have you near me)
El trabajo me llena las horas
(Work fills my hours)
Tu risa no puedo olividar
(Your laughter I can't forget)
Vivir sin tu amor no es vida
(To live with out your love isn't living)
Vivir de prófugo es igual
(To live as a fugitive is the same)

SOMETHING IN THE RAIN
By Tish Hinojosa

Mom and dad have worked the fields, I don't know how many years
I'm just a boy but I know how, and go to school when work is slow
We have seen our country's road, Bakersfield from Illinois
And when troubles come our way, oh yeah, I've seen my daddy pray.
There's something wrong with little sister, I hear her cryin' by my side
Mama's shaking as she holds her; we try to hold her through the night
And mom says close you eyes mijito, dream of someplace far from here
Like the pictures in your schoolbooks, someday you can take us there
There must be something in the rain
I'm not sure what that means
Abuelita talks of sins of man, of dust that's in our hands
There must be something in the rain
well what else could cause this pain
Those airplanes cure the plants so things can grow
Oh no, it must be something in the rain
Little sister's gone away. Mama's workin' long again
And me I think I understand about our life about our land
Well, talkers talk and dreamers dream; I will find a place between
I'm afraid but I believe that we can change these hurting fields
Cause there's something in the rain but there's more here in our hands
'Buelita's right about the sins of man who's profits rape the land
And the rains are pouring down from the growers to the towns
And until we break the killing chains
There's something in the rain&

© 1990 Manazo Music (ASCAP)

ROSES AROUND MY FEET
By Tish Hinojosa

You've known the distance
From sea to field of green
I've traded mountains for a dream
Some hearts lay broken
By love's unanswered prayers
Words fall like roses
Through the air
Roses around my feet are telling me somethin'
Roses around my feet
I used to feel nothin'
No grieving for me
These thorns that make us bleed
No lies just reasons to believe
Roses around my feet
Are telling me somethin'
Roese around my feet I used to feel nothin'
Spanish bridge:
Cantame cancion de amores
(sing me songs of love)
No me estes hechando flores
(don't throw flowers to me)
Quiero solamente la verdad
(I want only the truth)

I'M NOT THROUGH LOVIN' YOU YET
By Tish Hinojosa

I'm over listenin' to your alibis
I'm over listenin' to you silver tongued lies
I'm still infatuated and where my hearts related
I'm not through lovin' you yet
Love and romance have had the best of me
I've followed blindly though I've clearly seen
You walk the line unnetted and I'm the one who said it
I'm not through lovin' you yet
I may stand by but I'm no fool
There's more than one way 'round the rules
Someday the tide is gonna change
And you'll be wonderin' where I've been
Sometimes the hunter's line falls prey
Back to the one that got away
It comes back uninvited and you're not gonna fight it
I'm not through lovin' you yet
I may stand by but I'm no fool
There's more than one way 'round the rules
Someday the tide is gonna change
And you'll be wonderin' where I've been
© 1994 Manazo Music/ Maverick Music

SHE'S A HIGHWAY
By Tish Hinojosa

She's a highway, she believes
Every road is destiny
If you heard a distant call
Would you ever leave it all
She's a highway she's the sea
She has been a friend to me
Left behind a heart so frail
Felt the wind rise in my sail
She's a highway just like me
Blows my mind she looks so free
Every mile under my feet
Makes a difference and I see
She's a highway
(Chorus)
On and on the white lanes role
Tell my wheels which way to go
What I learned from yesterday
Every heartache paved the way
She's a highway
(Instrumental)
She's a highway she's the sky
Wings of steel that need to fly
For tomorrow cannot lie
Holds no sorrow no goodbye
She's a high way
She's a high way
She's a high way


OTRA VEZ
(ONCE AGAIN)
By Tish Hinojosa

Quiero ver otra vez
(I want to see, once again)
Tus ojitos de noche serena
(Your sweet eyes of nights serenity)
Quiero oir otra vez
(I want to hear, once again)
Tus palabras calmando mi pena
(Your words calming my troubles)
Quiero ser otra vez
(I want to be, once again)
La que ajita la paz de tu sueño
(The one who awakens the peace of your sleep)
Con la voz amorosa
(With a voice of love)
De un cariño borracho de ensueño
(Of affection in intoxicating dreams)
(Chorus)
Y quisiera sobre todo
(And I like above all else)
Un poquito de esperanza
(A bit of hope)
Tu te has vuelto muy esquivo
(You have become very evasive)
Muy esquivo
(Very evasive)
Y muy dado a la desconfianza
(And given to mistrust)
No hay razon dulce bien
(There's no sweet love)
De que me trates como un Extrano
(That you should treat me like a stranger)
Siempre soy la que he sido
(I am as I've always been)
No me pagues con un desengano
(Don't pay me with betrayal)
Mira amor me harias mucho dano
(My love, you would do me much harm)


CON SU PLUMA EN SU MANO
(With his pen in his hand)
By Tish Hinojosa

Con su permiso quiero cantarles
(With your permission I want to sing to you)
Aquí un corrido sin tristeza ni maldad
(Here a ballad without sadness or malice)
Con pluma firme muy fronterizo
(With pen held firmly, very frontierlike)
Sin miedo nos forjo nuevo pensar
(Without fear he forged for us a new way of thinking)
En Brownsville tejas mil nueve y quince
(In Brownsville Texas Nineteen hundred fifteen)
Américo Paredes fue a empezar
(Américo Paredes began)
Su Vida y los quince años
( His life and at fifteen years)
Sus ojos vieron cosas que hay
(His eyes saw things that have)
Que recontar
(To be recounted)
(Chorus)
Con Su pluma en su mano
(With his pen in his hand)
Corazonde fiel chicano
(Heart of true chicano)
Mexico-americano
(Mexican American)
Muchos cuentos fue a cambiar
(Many tales he changed)
Con su pluma en su mano
(With his pen in his hand)
Con paciencia y sin temor
(with patience and without fear)
Escribio muchas verdades
(He wrote many truths)
Y respeto nos gano
(And won respect for us)
Se fue la guerra viajo el mundo
(He went to the war traveled the world)
Después se continuó a educar
(Later he continued his education)
En Austin Tejas poco nerviosos
(In Austin Texas a little verous)
Se pusieron los de la universidad
(Those at the university became)
Palabras justas bien presentadas
(Words of justice well presented)
Aparecieron y así fue a llegar
(Appeared and that's how he became)
Doctorado y decorado
(Doctorated and decorated)
Que hasta México lo fue a honrar
(That even Mexico was to honor him)
Tantas canciones me ha enseñado
(So many songs he has taught me)
Por ser musico poeta y locutor
(By being muscician poet and radio announcer)
Yo gaurdaré siempre un tesoro
(I'll always guard a treasure
Las historias de ese amable profesor
(The stories of that friendly professor)
Un gran maestro no se retira
(A great teacher does't retire)
Y es por eso que aquí les vengo a dar
(And that's why I'm here to bring you)
Este corrido porque yo he sido
(This ballad because I've been)
También alumna de Don Américo
(Also a student of Don Américo)

WEST SIDE OF TOWN
By Tish Hinojosa

Felipe was a young boy when he crossed the Rio Grande
Headin' north to Texas where he grew into a man
He fixed cars and worked the wars and raised a family
San Antonio was home on the West Side of Town
Young Maria dreamed of singing' in a concert hall
Past the plaza and village church adobe wall
Hard times stole her innocence but drove the woman's heart
San Antonio bound to the West Side of Town
Chorus:
She was proud and lived on faith
He was strong in his own way
They were pilgrims that made
A good life the hard way
Felipe lost his first wife in 1943
Seven growing children and desperately in need
Maria came to look for work and found her destiny
With one child of her own to the West Side of Town
They were married years went by and now we were thirteen
Days were good and days were bad but mostly they were lean
School and shoes and food and books believin' in a prayer
God must know his way 'round on the West Side of Town
(Chorus)
We would go to Mexico and mama she would cry
For the things we'll never know she had to leave behind
Sisters, brothers know to well what memories can do
Climbin' up when you're down from the West Side of Town
Daddy never owned a house but built a strong foundation
Mama bought her own damn house with self determination
They're both gone but I know that they're listening to this song
'Neath the San Fernando ground on the West Side of Town
(Chorus)
(additional Chorus) Peregrinos de ayer (pilgrims from yesterday)
Del destino y la fe (though destiny and faith)
They were pilgrims that made
A good life the hard way

MANOS, HUESOS Y SANGRE
(Hands, Bones and blood)
(Waltz for Frida Kahlo)
By Tish Hinojosa

Manos y huesos y sangre sería
(Crumbling hands, bones and blood)
Pero el corazón no muere
(Something in a heart lives forever)
Miles palabras en quieto pincel
(Thousand words painted by love's broken stroke)
Dueña y escalavade dos
(Master and slave you were both)
Ojos que sirven de espejo
(Eyes serving as our own mirror)
Pasión y dolor y placer
(Of passion and pleasure and pain)
Cara y disfraz que aparace
(Costume and face of a story)
Esos fracasos de ayer
(Bearing that yesterday's stain)
Madre de sueños y quien te dira
(Mother of dreams who could dare to predict)
Toda mujer sueña igual
(Women would dream by your name)
Aguila inquieta cadenas cairán
(Restless the eagle still chained by the wing)
Frida es tu descanso en paz?
(Frida are you sleeping in Peace)
© 1990, Manazo Music

GOD'S OWN OPEN ROAD
By Tish Hinojosa

Somewhere 'neath the darkened sky a weary heart a lonesome eye
tracks along an empty highway lead to somewhere else
All my past and all my wishes tears reflect on muddy ditches
My own mind is searching for an answer from the eyes that look right back
I want to know about the outer reaches
everything that heartbreak teaches
Questions of survival that in every soul exist
what about the endless sky
A child that wants to know just why
the world spins round and people die
And does it hurt well baby, so do I
Walking on the streets I've known a city that I once called home
A stranger now another time that doesn't want me back
Poems in my native tongue whisper where I used to run
The river brushing by a shore that knew it all along
Here I stood and there I dreamed of future bright as magazines
Without the shades of sorrow in between
Where we've been and what we've seen, are we taught or are we teaching
Reaching seeking needing preaching pleading speeding screeching to a halt
Cattle guards and power lines mark the distance of our times
Like wheels that roll and bells that toll of hours and aging wine
Love we gave and love we made gone astray and then forgave
Naked as a masquerade for truth to figure out
Voices shout and voices sing words slip out and most stay in
In symphonies that live within the pockets of our soul
Colors of the open sea paint the edges of a dream in crystal blues
and deeper hues of wind and earth and God's own open road

CUMBIA POLKA Y MáS
(Cumbia, Polka and More)
Music by Robert Skiles
Words by Tish Hinojosa

Cumbia:
Todos vamos a dar
(We're all gonna play)
Un ritmo para bailar
(A rhythym to dance)
Asi, asi, asi el cuento va
(That's the way the story goes)
Vamos a pensar en más
(We're all gonna think of more)
De este mundo y que
(Of this world and that)
Vivan todos en paz
(We could all live in peace)
Toma me corazón
(Here's my heart)
Lo doy sin pedir razón
(I give it without asking reason)
Y mano en mano hermano ven aquí
(And hand inhand brother come here) Todo fuera haci un mundo feliz
(If it could only be this way a happy world)
Aqui bailando cumbia, polka y más
(Here dancing cumbia, polka and more)
Polka:
Ruedos entre ruedas van las vidas
(Circles within circles go our lives)
Ruedas entre ruedas van así
(Circles with in circles go like this)
Risas pintan esperanzas
(Laughter paints hope)
Ven carinosamente oir
(Come and with your heart listen)
Este ritmo de las calles que conosco
(To this rhythym of the streets I know)
Quiero recordar aquel pasar
(I want to remember that long ago)
Tu y yo somos las ganas
(You and I are the inspiration)
De esta cumbia, polka y más
(Of this cumbia, polka and more)

© 1991, Delightful Music/ Manazo Music