Social Conscience Music

El Salvador
Written by Noel Paul Stookey and Jim Wallis, performed by Peter Paul and Mary


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There's a sunny little country south of Mexico 
Where the winds are gentle and the waters flow 
But breezes aren't the only things that blow in El Salvador 

If you took the little lady for a moonlight drive 
Odds are still good you'd come back alive 
But everyone is innocent until they arrive in El Salvador 

If the rebels take a bus on the grand highway 
The government destroys a village miles away 
The man on the radio says Now we'll play South of the Border

And in the morning the natives say, 
We're happy you have lived another day
Last night a thousand more passed away in El Salvador 

There's a television crew here from ABC 
Filming Rio Lempe and the refugees 
Calling murdered children the tragedy of El Salvador

Before the government camera 20 feet away 
Another man is asking for continued aid 
Food and medicine and hand grenades for El Salvador 

There's a thump, a rumble, and the buildings sway 
A soldier fires, the acid spray 
The public address system starts to play South of the Border 

You run for cover and hide your eyes 
You hear the screams from paradise 
They've fallen further than you realize in El Salvador 

Just like Poland is protected by her Russian friends
The junta is assisted by Americans 
And if 60 million dollars seems to much to spend in El Salvador 

They say for half a billion they could do it right 
Bomb all day, burn all night 
Until there's not a living thing upright in El Salvador 

They'll continue training troops in the USA 
And watch the nuns that got away 
And teach the military bands to play South of the Border 

And kill the people to set them free 
Who put this price on their liberty? 
Don't you think it's time to leave El Salvador?