El Hijo Arrepentido
Violeta Parra
The Repentant Son
When I left Chillán
I left without any reason,
I left to travel the world
Because it will be my destiny.
It was my destiny, oh yes,
It was my destiny.
My old man told me: no
Don't go, beloved son,
Your mom is sick and I
Am more dead than alive.
Dead than alive, oh yes,
Dead than alive.
But I never listened
To anything he told me
And through the streets of the world
I walked like a lost soul.
Like a lost soul, oh yes,
Like a lost soul.
On the eighteenth of September
Among bottles of wine
I argued with the man
Who called me a bandit.
A bandit, oh yes,
A bandit.
My old man died of sorrow
And my mom of the same
When I ended up in jail,
Jail in Valparaíso.
Valparaíso, oh yes,
Valparaíso.
Tomorrow at dawn
I pay for all my crimes.
The only comfort I have
Is that I die repentant.
Repentant, oh yes,
Repentant.
To all who listen to me
I ask for a big favor:
Say a Hail Mary
For the repentant son.
Dead than alive, oh yes,
Dead than alive.
