Originally in E, I prefer it in E on guitar, but D vocally.
| A | B | G#m | C#m | A | B | E |
Little Latin flourish on the 3rd and 4th strings, roughly iii ii
| E | |
| There’s a | sunny little country south of Mexico |
| F#7 | |
| Where the | winds are gentle and the waters flow |
| A | Am | E | |
| But | breezes aren’t the only | things that blow in El | Salvador |
| E | |
| If you | took the little lady for a moonlight drive |
| F#7 |
| Odds are still good you’d come back alive |
| A | Am | E | E7 | |
| But | everyone is innocent unt | il they arrive in El | Salvador |
| A | B | |
| If the | rebels take a bus on the | grand highway |
| G#m | C#m | |
| The | government destroys a village | miles away |
| A | |
| The | man on the radio says |
Go down to the 1 instead of up to the 3 on “border”
| B | E | E7 |
| Now we’ll play South of the | Border |
| A | B |
| And in the morning the | natives say |
| G#m | C#m |
| We’re happy you have lived a | nother day |
| A |
| Last night a thousand more |
| B | E |
| Passed away in El Salva | dor |
| C#m | B |
| Oooh | Oooh |
| E | |
| There’s a t | elevision crew here from ABC |
| F#7 |
| Filming Rio Lempe and the refugees |
| A | Am | E |
| Calling murdered children the t | ragedy of El S | alvador |
| E | |
| Be | fore the government camera twenty feet away |
| F#7 |
| Another man is asking for continued aid |
| A | Am | E | E7 |
| Food and medicine and h | and grenades for El | Salvador |
| A | B | |
| There’s a | thump, a rumble, and the | buildings sway |
| G#m | C#m |
| A soldier fires the | acid spray |
| A | |
| The | public address system |
| B | E | E7 | |
| S | tarts to play South of the | Border |
| A | B |
| You run for cover and | hide your eyes |
| G#m | C#m |
| You hear the screams from | paradise |
| A | B |
| They’ve fallen further than you | realize |
| C#m | |
| In El Salva | dor |
| A | F#7 | B |
| La, | la, | ooh |
Pause and ease into the next verse rubato
| E | |
| Just like | Poland is protected by her Russian “friends” |
| F#7 | |
| The | junta is assisted by Americans |
| A | Am | E | |
| And if | sixty million dollars seems | too much to spend in El | Salvador |
| E | |
| They say | for half a billion they could do it right |
| F#7 |
| Bomb all day, burn all night |
| A | Am | E | E7 | |
| Unt | il there’s not a living t | hing upright in El Sa | lvador |
| A | B | |
| They’ll con | tinue training troops in the | USA |
| G#m | C#m |
| And watch the nuns that | got away |
| A | B |
| And teach the military | bands |
| E | E7 | |
| To play South of the | Border |
| A | B |
| And kill the people to | set them free |
| G#m | C#m |
| Who put this price on their | liberty? |
| A | B | A |
| Don’t you think it’s | time to leave El Salva | dor? |
| G#m | A | B | C#m |