MIGUEL
Gordon Lightfoot
1971


Never had much to say, he traveled alone with no friends
Like a shadowy ghost at dawn he came and he went
Through the woodland swiftly gliding
To the young maid he came riding
Where she'd run to meet him by the garden wall.

Oh my sweet Miguel, I will never tell
No one will ever know, what I know too well
And he'd smile and lay his head on her breast
And he'd say I have no fear
They're waiting for me to cross the border, to swim the river
'Cause I've done that before
To see my true love's smiling face a hundred times or more
Oh my sweet Miguel she cried, I'll love you till I die.

He was born to the south in Mexico they say
The child of a man who had soon gone away
But his mother loved him dearly
And she would take him yearly
To the great cathedral in St. Augustine.

Oh my young Miguel, listen to the bell
Of my poverty you must never tell
And he cried himself to sleep in the night
And he vowed to make things right
So he took the gun down from the wall and he paid a call
He knew she'd understand
A lawman came to capture him, the gun jumped in his hand
Oh Miguel the mother cried, you must run son or you'll die.

So the story is told of his true love 'cross the line
As strong as the oak and as sweet as the vine
And the child she bore him
Came on that fateful morning
When they sent him to his final rest.

Oh my sweet Miguel, listen to the bell
No one will ever know what I know too well
Then she'd smile and lay the child on her breast
And she'd say I have no fear
I'm waiting for you to cross the border, to swim the river
'Cause you've done that before
To see your true love's smiling face a hundred times or more
Oh my sweet Miguel she cried, I'll love you till I die.




(Transcribed by David Story - February 2013)