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Joel Ninesling - Lyrics

We loaded up for Richfield
Put in 14 hours today
From the orchard to the camp they gave us
97 miles away

There’s a gringo in El Paso
He gonna get your first month’s pay
Save your questions, take your papers
From here they just call us H-2A

Esteban flicked on his lighter
We slept like lambs right on the floor
Kissed a picture of his wife and family
(all) back in El Salvador

You say H-2A, I say a father
You say H-2A, just a pair of hands
You say H-2A, I say a brother
You say H-2A, I say a man

Mama worked the sugar beetfields
Crippled by that shin-high hoe
The devil’s arm of el cortito taketh
Still she sent all the money home

Hottest harvest is the lettuce
You lose your head about 110
Run us in busses up to Sal Si Puedes
They say, “Get out if you can”

You say H-2A, I say a mother
You say H-2A, get the papers filed
You say H-2A, I say a daughter
You say H-2A, I say a woman and a child

Split with my brother at Reynosa
He went north and I went west
They’re payin’ piece-rate wage for berries
minus beer and cigarettes

Got a letter from my sister
She’ll come up to Mexico
Get the body at the border
heard the van went off the road

I saw mama in the field that day
Arm of heaven comin’ down
Poncheador is yelling at us,
ˇVamos! Get that fruit out of the ground!

You say H-2A, I say mama
Just an H-2A, don’t give a damn
You say H-2A, I say papa
You say H-2A, I say a woman and a man

[Harmony Vocal: Rose Polenzani]

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