Don't Fence Me In

One of my favourite songs as a kid was the country tune Don't Fence Me In. And when I was in school the teachers bludgeoned me into "appreciating" the poet Robert Frost who famously wrote "Good fences make good neighbors" in his poem Mending Wall.

Those are the happy references to fences, but here is the reality of a fences and walls as I see it... This is Ricardo Arjuno's El Mojado:



OK, that's pretty "dramatic". So for those of you that like something more rational and less emotional, try this...

Reason TV's The Wall (part 1)


Reason TV's The Wall (part 2)



Enough with the heavy stuff..

For those of you who want to enjoy the lyrics to Ricardo Arjona's music, here's they are line-by-line with the Spanish original followed by an English translation...

“El Mojado” por Ricardo Arjona

Empacó un par de camisas, un sombrero
He packed a couple shirts, a hat
Su vocación de aventurero, seis consejos, siete fotos
his job of adventurer, six advices, seven photos
Mil recuerdos
One thousand memories

Empacó sus ganas de quedarse
He packed his desire to stay
Su condición de transformarse
His condition of transforming himself
en el hombre que soñó
into a man who dreamed
y no ha logrado
and hasn’t achieved.

Dijo adiós con una mueca disfrazada de sonrisa
He said goodbye with a face disguised in a smile
Y le suplicó a su Dios crucificado en la repisa
And he prayed to his crucified God on the shelf
El resguardo de los suyos
Protection of his own.

Y perforó la frontera
And he broke through the border
Como pudo
However he could

[coro] [this is the repeated chorus]
Si la luna suave se desliza
If the soft moon slides over
Por cualquier cornisa
whatever corner
Sin permiso alguno
without any permission
Porque el mojado precisa
because the wetback needs
Comprobar con visas
to prove with visas
que no es de neptuno
that he is not from Neptune.

El mojado tiene ganas de secarse
the wetback would like to dry off
El mojado esta mojado por las lagrimas que evoca la nostalgia
the wetback is wet because of the tears that evoke nostalgia
El mojado, el indocumentado
the wetback, the undocumented person
Carga el bulto que el legal no cargaría
carries the load that the legal person wouldn’t carry
Ni obligado
even if forced to.

El suplicio de un papel lo ha convertido en fugitivo
The torture of a paper has turned him into a fugitive
Y no es de aquí porque su nombre no aparece en los archivos
and he is not from he because his name does not appear in the files
Ni es de allá porque se fue
nor is he from there because he left

[coro]

Mojado
Wetback
Sabe a mentira tu verdad
Your truth tastes like lies
Sabe a tristeza la ansiedad
Like sadness tastes the anxiety
De ver un freeway y soñar con la vereda
Of seeing a highway and dreaming of the path

Que conduce hasta tu casa
that goes to your house
Mojado, mojado de tanto llorar
Wetback, wetback of so much crying
Sabiendo que en algún lugar
Knowing that in one place
espera un beso haciendo pausa
a kiss is waiting paused
Desde el día en que te marchaste
since the day you walked out

[coro]

Si la visa universal se extiende
If the universal visa is extended
el día en que nacemos
the day that we are born
y caduca en la muerte
and expires at death
por qué te persiguen mojado
why do they persecute you, wetback
si el cónsul de los cielos
if the consulate of the heavens
ya te dio permiso
already gave you permission.