Papa Danced on Olvera Street

[Verse 1]
Across the way from Union Station
Is our family's favorite stand
You can take a seat and eat and drink
Hear the Mariachi bands
L.A.’s oldest road is a marketplace
Run by charming and kind Latinos
And you'll ignore faint scents of sewage
Once you've tasted them taquitos

[Verse 2]
There was that day the world seemed bright
The hot green sauce a little hotter
You know you’ve got a good batch
When your eyes begin to water
And I believed God laughed along with our
Surprise at happy feet
When Papa stood straight up and did a little dance
There on old Olvera Street

[Chorus 1]
Couldn't help himself, 'cause the day was warm
And the company was sweet
And strangers laughed, too, at the sight
That made our day complete
With his family gathered on Father's Day
His love ran wide and deep
And Papa said so with his little dance
Down on old Olvera Street

[Verse 3]
Above us loomed Avila Adobe
Oldest house in Los Angeles
Did I really see a second sight
That nearly brought me to my knees?
Encarnacion Abela
Francisco the rancher's grieving widow
Watching Papa dance, I swear her sad ghost smiled
There up in that upper-story window

[Chorus 2]
She couldn't help herself, 'cause the day was warm
And the company was sweet
And the crowd laughed, too, at the joyous soul
Who made our day complete
With his family gathered on Father's Day
His love ran wide and deep
And Papa said so with his little dance
Down on old Olvera Street

[Bridge]
In a world that wounds us time to time
That glimpse of grace is so sublime
And though the Angels now live in Anaheim
They flew in for just a peak
At that miracle of the fandango
Down on old Olvera Street

[Outro]
And heaven knows I love that man
He’s more than half of who I am
It’s a thing I'm beginning to understand
Wish my heart had moved my feet
And I had joined my daddy when he danced that day
Down on old Olvera Street