We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

(a) Barrier Reef

from Lady Liberty by Gerry Spehar

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

about

Acoustic guitar minor key ballad about a young girl's perilous solo Rio Grande crossing to find her father in Virginia, and her family's desperate hopes; lush harmonies (Christine Spehar) gypsy flourishing trumpet (Erinn Bone), and lush fiddle (Gabe Witcher).

lyrics

BARRIER REEF
Gerry & Susan Spehar, Bobby Allison
Maria took her daughter up to the border
Squeezed her little hand
Fifteen hundred dollars to a young coyote
Loaded her in a van
Make it to your Papa in Fairfax, Virginia
Out of this murderous land
Go on, you need a barrier reef
Shelter from grief
Dive to its colors
And find relief
You need a barrier reef
She caught the immigrant Beast
Guadalajara up to the Rio Grande
A river of lost children and mothers
Heading for the Promised Land
Papa and Grandpa swam this same river of hope
She can feel them pulling
On a long, long, long, long rope
Singing you need a barrier reef
Shelter from grief
Dive to its colors
And find relief
You need a barrier reef
He used to fish its waters when she was a little girl
She would swim to the coral and see a beautiful world
And sing you are my barrier reef
Shelter from grief
I dive to your colors
To find relief
I dive to your colors
To find belief
You are my barrier reef
Barrier reef

credits

from Lady Liberty, released January 9, 2021

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Gerry Spehar Los Angeles, California

Gerry Spehar is a folk country troubadour from Colorado and a man on a mission.  Hot on the heels of last year's critically acclaimed "I Hold Gravity” the singer songwriter guitar picker is back with a full blown old school protest album.  Think Woody Guthrie backed by psychedelic guitars and funky New Orleans horns ... more

contact / help

Contact Gerry Spehar

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Gerry Spehar, you may also like: