Joan Baez - Gulf Winds Lyrics
It's only when the high winds blow that I wish my hair was longSailing through the autumn leaves singing an ancient songOr falling in love in the streets at night at the edge of a local squareIt's only that I'm here tonight thinking I was thereThere are high winds on the pier tonight, my soul departs from meStriding like Thalia's ghost south on the murky seaAnd into midnight's tapestry she fades, ragged and wildSearching down her ancestry in the costume of a Persian childAnd gulf winds bring me flying fish that shine in the crescent moonShow me the horizon where the dawn will break anewAnd cool me here on this lonely pier where the heron are flying lowEcho the songs my father knew in the towns of MexicoWhen I was young my eyes were wise, my father was good to meInstead of having a flock of sons he had two other girls and meAnd if we had used our Spanish names, here's the way they'd runThalia, Margarita and Juanita, I'm the middle one.The screen door kept the demons in as we moved from town to townIt's hard to be a princess in the States when your skin is brownAnd mama smoothed my worried brow as I leaned on the kitchen doorWhy do you carry the weight, she said, of the world and maybe more?And gulf winds bring me flying fish that shine in the crescent moonShow me the horizon where the dawn will break anewAnd cool me here on this lonely pier where the heron are flying lowEcho the songs my father knew in the towns of MexicoMy grandfathers were ministers and it came on down the lineMy father preached in his parents' church when he was ten years and nineAnd mama dressed in parishoners' clothes and didn't believe in hellHer daddy foug
