Bruce Springsteen - The Line

this is from the ghost of tom joad album . hope it’s more or less correct .

the line – bruce springsteen

C
i got my discharge from fort irwin
F C
took a place on the san diego county line
F C
felt funny bein’ a civilian again
G
it’d been some time
C
my wife had died a year ago
F C
i was still tryin’ to find my way back whole
F C
i went to work for the ins on the line
G C
with the california border patrol

F
bobby ramirez was a ten year veteran
C
and we became friends
F C
his family was from guanajuato
G
so the job it was different for him
C
he said’ “they risk death in the deserts and mountains”
F C
pay all they got to the smugglers rings ,
F C
we send ’em home and they come right back again
G C
carl , hunger is a powerful thing . ”

F C
well i was good at doin’ what i was told
F C
kept my uniform pressed and clean
F C
at night i chased their shadows
G
through the arroyos and ravines

C
drug runners , farmers with their families ,
F C
young women with little children by their sides
F C
come night we’d wait out in the canyons
G C
and try to keep ’em from crossin’ the line

well the first time that i saw her
F C
she was in the holdin’ pen
F C
our eyes met and she looked away
G
then she looked back again
C
her hair was black as coal
F C
her eyes reminded me of what i’d lost
F
she had a young child cryin’ in her arms
C G C
and i asked , “senora , is there anything i can do”

Am7
there’s a bar in tijuana
F
where me and bobby drink alongside
C G C
the same people we’d sent back the day before
Am7 F
we met there she said her name was louisa
C G
she was from sonora and had just come north
Am7 F
we danced and i held her in my arms
G C
and i knew what i would do

F C
she said she had some family in madera county
G C
if she , her child and her younger brother could just get through

at night they come across the levy
F C
in the searchlights dusty glow
F C
we’d rush ’em in our broncos
G
and force ’em back down into the river below
C
she climbed into my truck
F C
she leaned towards me and we kissed
F C
as we drove her brothers shirt slipped open
G C
and i saw the tape across his chest

Am7 F
we were just about on the highway
C G C
when bobby’s jeep come up in the dust on my right
Am7 F
i pulled over and let my engine run
C G
and stepped out into his lights
Am7
i felt myself movin’
F G C
felt my gun restin’ ’neath my hand
F C
we stood there starin’ at each other
G C
as off through the arroyo she ran

bobby ramirez he never said nothin’
F C
6 months later i left the line
F C
i drifted to the central valley
G
and took what work i could find
C
at night i searched the local bars
F
and the migrant towns
C
lookin’ for my louisa
G C
with the black hair fallin’ down