06/30/2012

Corrido Twelve Heads in a Bag

Twelve heads in a bag, left on the side of the road
Found in a country God no longer knows
Twelve heads in a bag, I swear I read it yesterday
Buried like the others on page 27A

Twelve heads in a bag, lost count to my dismay
Fifty-three hundred must have all got in the way
Some of them down on the pass in old Guerrero state
Where one man’s back porch is another’s graveyard fate

Da-da-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum

Twelve heads in a bag, screaming out, ‘What did they do?’
Wrapped up like garbage, be thankful it ain’t you
Found a few in Chiapas, down in Juarez, too
Where the girls lost are faceless, and the killers where no shoes

Twelve heads in a bag, pending family notification
Short military haircuts, cartel retaliation
“For every one you take,” the note said, “Man, we’ll take ten.”
On the road into this city the machete always wins

Da-da-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum

Twelve heads in a bag, eight soldier barely boys
Tortured and shot up, you know boys will be boys
Oh, the Mexican authorities were offended or so they say
At the sight of a cartoon that ran on Christmas day

Da-da-dum, da-da-dum, da-da-dum

Words and music by Hector Saldana, Copyright 2008.