¡Dios Bendiga a San Antonio!

 

Families are crying because their relatives are dying in San Antonio

Where the railroad cars are jumping their tracks and threatening people’s homes

 

¡Dios bendiga a San Antonio!

¡Dios proteja a San Antonio!

 

Residents are shouting and demanding rerouting of the tracks that carry the doom

Past the back door of the high school and their families’ family rooms

 

¡Dios bendiga a San Antonio!

¡Dios proteja a San Antonio!

 

Porque el ferrocarril no nos hace caso

So we’d better act soon, we had better act fast

Before disaster strikes us right here in our tracks

 

¡Dios bendiga a San Antonio!

 

They’re gambling with the lives of the people who rely

On the industry that rolls through town

But should people have to die just ‘cause politicians lie

With the bureaucrats and corporate clowns?

¡Contestamanos no, no, no, no!

 

¡Dios proteja a San Antonio!

 

Porque al ferrocarril, le falta corazón

So we’d better act soon, we had better act fast

Before disaster strikes us right here in our tracks

 

¡Dios bendiga a San Antonio!

May the good Lord bless us, San Antonio!

 

Because the mighty railroad is moving dangerously slow

So we’d better act soon, we had better act fast

Before a huge disaster stops us in our tracks

 

¡Dios bendiga a San Antonio!

 

© 2004. Billy Marabella.

NOTES ON THIS SONG
This song had a very specific purpose as I wrote it. The story is real. Railroads have experienced a few fatal accidents in recent years. In neighborhoods that border their tracks, people are at risk. The song is bilingual because the neighborhoods are mostly Spanish-speaking communities. I don’t know what the politics in San Antonio are, but the story is one of genuine concern for me. I used to work next to railroad tracks and I know the dangers.