Viva Zapata

[Verse 1}
What would you do if the news came through
They've stolen your village's land
And they say they'll kill any man dares to complain?

Stony field by stony field
The haciendado's plan
Is to bury us all in the rich man's sugar cane

When you see your friends and neighbors hang like earrings from the trees
Does it make you think they're playing a game of bluff?
Isn't it better to die on your feet than to live upon your knees?
400 years of bondage, that's enough

[Chorus}
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!

[Verse 2}
Zapata, true as steel
Champion of the poor
To the marrow up my bones I am your man

We're the dispossessed and dangerous
With nothing left to lose
And it's time to put a gun in every hand

What good is peace and plenty if it's not for one and all?
For this ideal, we fought side by side
Though society condemns us now, history will prove
Our actions will be justified

[Chorus]
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!

[Verse 3]
Oh why did you go to Chinameca
That fatal April day?
That wasn't the way that a cautious man behaves?

The traitor, Guajardo
Carranza, González too
I hope they rest uneasy in their graves

Oh the bugler blew three icy blasts, Zapata crossed the square
Dismounting at the threshold of the door
And the guard of honor raised their guns and shot him in the back
Such honor was seldom seen before

[Chorus}
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!

[Verse 4}
Now many's the folks in the southlands
Will look at you kind of strange
And say that they don't believe that he ever died

They'll talk about a nervous horse
Way up in the mountain range
And they swear to you they've seen Zapata ride

And the guns go off like thunder and the bullets fall like hail
Bodies lie as far as the eye can see
For many's the brave man went to fight and many's the brave man fell
For the sake of land and sweet liberty

[Chorus}
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!