Lyrics:

Dave Alvin/Tom Russell
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, and Frontera Music, ASCAP, administered by Bug Music)


Im just tryin to make a livin
Im an old man at thirty-nine
With two kids and an ex-wife
Who moved up to Riverside
Im workin down on the border
Drivin back roads every night
Mountains east of El Cajon
North of the Tecate line.

Where the California summer sun
Will burn right through your soul
But in the winter you can freeze to death
In the California snow.

I catch the ones Im able to
And watch the others slip away
I know some by their faces
And I even know some by name
I guess they think that were all
Movie stars and millionaires
I guess that they still believe
That dreams come true up here.

But I guess the weathers warmer down in Mexico
And no one ever tells them bout the California snow.

Last winter I found a man and wife
Just about daybreak
Layin in a frozen ditch
South of the interstate
I wrapped em both in blankets
But shed already died
The next day we sent him back alone
Across the borderline.

I dont know where they came from
Or where they planned to go
But we carried her all night long
Through the California snow.

Sometimes when Im alone out here
I get to thinkin about my life
Maybe I should go to Riverside
And try to fix things with my wife
Or maybe just get in my truck
And drive as far as I can go
Away from all the ghosts that haunt
The California snow.

Where the California summer sun
Can burn right to your soul
And in the winter you can freeze to death
In the California snow.