DONA MARIA ELENA CANTRELL (SAN MIGUEL)
(learned from Charlie Brown, in about 1964; written by Jane Bowers in 1959)
Down by the Mission San Miguel, there is a house wherein does dwell
I dream Mission San Miguel, and it says to me, the mission bell,
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
Don Carlos and la Dona Maria Elena Cantrell.
I work at the ranch, I saddle her mare,
I ride with a gun behind as she visits her friends here and there.
She says, Thank you, Manuel, and Manuel, por favor,
And Good Morning, Manuel, La Dona Maria Elena Cantrell.
She is married, Manuel, the wife of the rancher, Don Carlos Cantrell.
You work at the ranch, you hold her chair,
You carry her boxes and trunks and letters and books everywhere.
(repeat last two lines of first verse)
But I hear with my heart what she says with her eyes:
She says, Thank you, Manuel, and Manuel, por favor,
And Good morning, Manuel, and Manuel, close the door.