South Coast

(album: ...from the "Hungry i" - 1959)

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely
You may win at the game at Jolon
But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

My name is Juan Hano de Castro
My father was a Spanish grandee
But I won my wife in a card game, when a man lost his daughter to me

I picked up the ace
I had won her
My heart, which was down at my feet
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry
Like a warm summers' day, she was sweet

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely
You may win at the game at Jolon
But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

Her arms had to tighten around me as we rode up the hills from the South
Not a word did I hear from her that day or a kiss from her pretty red mouth

We came to my cabin at twilight
The stars twinkled out on the coast
She soon loved the valley, the orchard, but I knew that she loved me the most

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely
You may win at the game at Jolon
But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

Then I got hurt in a landslide with crushed hip and twice-broken bone
She saddled our pony like lightning, rode off in the night, all alone

The lion screamed in the barranca; the pony fell back on the slide
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight
My heart died that night with my bride

South Coast, the wild coast, is lonely
You may win at the game at Jolon
But the lion still rules the barranca, and a man there is always alone

Daughters were possessions, to be bet away or arranged marriages for; also, note the use of "young wife" in the final stanza. Her shyness "had to tighten" and her silent reticence but adaptable "soon loved..." indicates no previous marriage, and "lost his daughter to me" indicates her origin, whereas "to hell with the lords o'er the sea" seems thrown in. If this man were a sailor, why would he have established orchards?

Just a thought. I'd really like to see the original music if it were available. The concept of betting away a daughter was my first exposure to the concept of women as property and the sung stuck with me my whole life. (I was the oldest and only daughter and I was afraid of the possibility; I was 9 and the chorus, except for one word, and the storyline, and the tune have stayed with me for the last 25 years; it influenced my major "women's studies")