IMMIGRANT SUITE

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

BOY AND BEAST
Gerry Spehar

Enrique grabs a ladder in the Mexican night
Pulls himself up on the Beast and holds on tight
Wrapped around a railing as the stars roll by
He pulls out a picture and starts to cry
The men in the boxcar, he steals them smokes
To buy their protection because he’s twelve and he’s broke
All along the watchtower he hears the screams
Of long cold rails and burning dreams
Sailing, sailing
Away, away
Sailing, I’m sailing
Away, away
He holds a scrap of paper with his Mama’s phone
In the state of Los Angeles where he hopes this Beast is
going
He tears it up and keeps her number in his head
Where no one can find it and nobody’s dead
Falling into emptiness
Falling out of loneliness
Away, away
Running out of fear
Running out of time
Away, away
Sailing, sailing
Away, away
I’m sailing, sailing
Away, away

MEET ME AT THE MOON
Gerry & Christine Spehar

She was afraid when the night came on
And darkness would rule the world
So we would sing this little song
When she was a little girl
Nos vemos en la luna, Querida
Nos vemos en la noche de luna
Nos vemos en la luna, Papa
Nos vemos en la luz de la luna
I couldn’t make enough money
There wasn’t no work in town
I had to leave on that long sad train
Up to the picking grounds
I couldn’t wait for the whistle to blow
Tell me the day was done
I couldn’t wait to call her up
So we could sing on the phone
Nos vemos en la luna, Querida
Nos vemos en la noche de luna
Nos vemos en la luna, Papa
Nos vemos en la luz de la luna
How was your day, Papa?
What did you do?
When do you think I will get to see you again?
She was beautiful, twelve years old
They wouldn’t leave her alone
We were planning to send her up north to me
She never made it home
How was your day, Papa?
What did you do?
When do you think I will get to see you again?
Nos vemos en la luna, Querida
Nos vemos en la noche de luna
Nos vemos en la luna, Papa
Nos vemos en la luz de la luna
Meet me at the moon tonight