Señorita No

Lyrics

She tells me there’s no streets I should walk down here
She says there ain’t no air I can breathe
As for the politicians – well, forget them all
There’s no one at the top you ever should believe

She says ‘We are so far from God here’.
I say ‘Señorita no’.
She says ‘We are so close to America’.
I say then, ‘Well let’s fall in love in Mexico.’

She says there’s nothing you can’t buy down here
Cops come at 10 cents a time
They’re just criminals in uniform – I say yes but keep your voice down
Don’t want them stealing anything of mine.

She says ‘We are so far from God here’.
I say ‘Señorita no’.
She says ‘We are so close to America’.
I say then, ‘Well let’s fall in love in Mexico.’

En los estados unidos there was a czar called McCaffrey
Sworn to wipe out dope, coke and ecstasy.
Because poor Miss America, so pure and innocente
Is being forced to take drugs by these narcotraficantes
But my señorita says she don’t think so.
She say señor gringo no.
I say señorita no.

She says ‘We are so far from God here’.
I say ‘Señorita no’.
She says ‘We are so close to America’.
I say then, ‘Well let’s fall in love in Mexico.’

Song Description

This song steals a very famous Mexican saying: ‘Poor Mexico. So far from God and so close to America’, which probably sums up what a lot of Mexicans feel. They can be very critical of their own country, and especially of their capital city, as the song implies. But they also have the challenge of living next door to powerful neighbours whose attitude is often very condescending and imperial. Recently for instance it has often seemed that the US government blames the Mexicans (and the Colombians) for their own nation’s drug consumption.

The McCaffrey mentioned is Barry McCaffrey, the first so-called US ‘anti-drugs Tsar’. He had the bad manners to resign before this song was recorded but I kept him in. I can’t remember the name of the new ‘tsar’ but it doesn’t have the good grace to rhyme with a Class ‘A’ drug.

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