It's only when the high winds blow That I wish my hair was long
Sailing through the autumn leaves Singing an ancient song
I'm falling in love in the streets at night At the edge of a local square
It's only that I am here tonight Thinking I was there
There's high winds on the pier tonight My soul departs from me
Striding like Talia's ghost south on the murky sea
And into midnight's tapestry she fades ragged and wild
Searching down her ancestry in the costume of a Persian child
So Gulf winds bring me flying fish That shine in the crescent moon
Show me the horizon where the dawn will break anew
And cool me here on this lonely pier With a hair and a flying love
Back with the songs my father knew In the towns of Mexico
When I was young my eyes were wise My father was good to me
Instead of having a flock of sons He had two other girls and me
And if we'd have used our Spanish names Here's the way they'd run
Talia, Margarita and Juanita I'm the middle one
The screen door kept the demons in As we moved from town to town
It's hard to be a princess in the States When your skin is brown
And Mama smoothed my worried brow As I leaned on the kitchen door
Why do you carry the weight, she said, of the world And maybe more
Gulf winds bring me flying fish That shine in the crescent moon
Show me the horizon where the dawn will break anew
And cool me here on this lonely pier With a hair and a flying love
Back with the songs my father knew In the towns of Mexico
My grandfather's were ministers And it came on down the line
My father preached in his parents' church When he was ten years and nine
And Mama dressed in parishioners' clothes And didn't believe in hell
Her daddy fought the D.A.R. if he lived I'd have known him well
They said, go find a Sunday school We must have tried them all
I never stole from the silver plate My sisters had more gall
One preacher said, sing out loud and clear It's the only life you've got
And the next one said, be good on earth You've another life at the feet of God
And Gulf winds bring me flying fish That shine in the crescent moon
Show me the horizon where the dawn will break anew
And cool me here on this lonely pier With a hair and a flying love
Back with the songs my father knew In the towns of Mexico
My father turned down many a job Just to give us something real
It's hard to be a scientist in the States When you've got ideals
And Mama kept the budget book And she kept the garden too
Bought fish from the man on Thursdays Fed all of us and strangers too
But time will pass and so will our lives Though most of what we know
Though tonight my memory's eyes clear As the story's being told
And I'll play ball with the underdog And sit with a child who's wrong
Be still when the earth is silent and sing When my strength is gone
So Gulf winds bring me flying fish That shine in the crescent moon
Show me the horizon where the dawn will break anew
And cool me here on this lonely pier With a hair and a flying love
Back with the songs my father knew In the towns of Mexico
My father's going to India sometime in the fall
They try to stay together but you just can't do it all
I'll think about him if he goes There's a little grey in his hair
Though not much cause he's a Mexican They don't age, they just prepare
And if he goes to India I'll miss him most of all
He'll see me in the mudlark's face Hear me in the beggar's call
And Mama will stay home I guess And worry if she did wrong
And I'll say a prayer for both of them And sing them both my song
And Gulf winds bring me flying fish That shine in the crescent moon
Show me the horizon where the dawn will break anew
And cool me here on this lonely pier With a hair and a flying love
Back with the songs my father knew In the towns of Mexico
My father's going to India sometime in the fall