Salton Laurels

[Verse 1]
That old Corvair you drove out of Brawley
Had a passenger seat full of maps to the coast.
The sun on the dash was a terrible warning
Of a thirst you said you feared the most.
You left the canal dirt under your nails
For a town where the water just falls from the sky.

[Chorus]
So you wear your clean getaway like a crown
On some street where the rain washes everything down.
But does the concrete feel good on your feet now, mijo?
Does it feel like you won?

[Verse 2]
I saw a picture you posted last Tuesday,
Polished shoes on a clean marble floor.
"This place is a tomb," you said, kicking the salt crust
The August day you slammed that Corvair's door.
Well, the tomb's still here, full of fish bones and dust,
And the ghosts of the boats swallowed up by the rust.

[Chorus]
So you wear your clean getaway like a crown
On some street where the rain washes everything down.
But does the concrete feel good on your feet now, mijo?
Does it feel like you won?

[Bridge]
I get it, you know, the headgate was broken,
The allotment was cut, the whole field was turning to salt.
You can't grow a thing in a place that's been poisoned,
So you tell yourself it wasn't your fault.

[Outro]
Just that Brawley dust...
And a quiet kind of thirst.