On the Side of This Mountain #3

Zoomer Roberts: vocal
Buddy Winston: guitar & harmony vocal
recorded 27 March 2010

This original song about living and dying in El Paso has been kicking around for a couple of years. The bridge has been altered from the previous (and now deleted) version. Some of the lyrics are symbolic. Others are literal. Long-time El Pasoans will recognize many of the references. I do indeed live on the western slopes of the Franklin Mountains and intend to stay put. The rest of the world passes through in a ceaseless parade of numbness, on its way to God-knows-where.

LYRICS:

On the side of this mountain it's always I've been
I'll watch you go out like I watched you come in
And when you are leavin' it's goodbye old friend
On the side of this mountain I'll stay 'til the end.

On the side of this mountain I'll stand like a tree
In a tiny oasis that no one but me
Can look at and tell if it's Heaven or Hell
On the side of this mountain I'll drink from the well

Each day the sun sets just a little bit later
And the big orange moon rises o'er the equator
Displaying its ridges, its rocks and its craters
And shines on the places where young escapaders
Were served Chico's Tacos by Mexican waiters
Drank cheap bourbon whiskey at drive-in theatres
And went to the Plaza to torment the gators
Recuérdame mi corazón

From the side of this mountain I can see through the years
And measure my days by the laughter and tears
For I have been with you and I've been without
On the side of this mountain I'll stand and I'll shout

And then some glad morning my ashes will blow
Up the Carlsbad Highway to New Mexico
Where the gypsum is glistening and the desert winds blow
Where the wispy wildflowers and the tumbleweeds grow
By the banks of the old Rio Grande that flows
Where the snowy Sandias kiss the valley below
Like the morning dew kisses the bloom of the rose
Espérame mi carazón

On the side of this mountain I'll stay until then
'Til the Lord at long last bids my soul to ascend
'Til the years melt away and the ages roll by
On the side of this mountain I'll live 'til I die. 

© Zoomer Roberts