El Salvador

A girl cries in the early morning woken by the sound of a gun.
She knows somewhere somebody's dyin' beneath the rising Sun.
Outside the window of he cabaña the shadows are full of her fears,
She knows her lover is out there somewhere,
he's been on the run for a year.

Oh! The soul of El Salvador.

The bell rings out on the chapel steeple,
the priest prepares to say mass.
The sad congregation come tired and hungry
to pray that their troubles will pass.
Outside the Sun rises over the dusty street
where the crowd gathers round,
Flies and mosquitos drink from pools of blood
where his body is found.

Oh! The soul of El Salvador.

Out on the ranch the rich man's preparin' to go for his morning ride.
They've saddled his horse out in the corral,
he walks out full of pride.
He looks like a cowboy in one of the movies
the President made in the past.
The Peasants in rags they stand back
for they know Enrico gallops fast.

Over the soul of El Salvador

A girl cries in the early morning woken by the sound of a gun.
She knows somewhere somebody's dyin' beneath the rising Sun.
Outside the window of he cabaña the shadows are full of her fears,
She knows her lover is out there somewhere,
he's been on the run for a year.

Oh! The soul of El Salvador.

By Johnny Duhan as sung by Christy Moore.

This song was written about the civil war in El Salvador in the early 1980’s and the death squads operating then.