# Border Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962 "2020-04-17T03:42:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/21 "2020-04-17T19:04:16Z")
[The Tijuana Jail](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wZoFB7zbVQ) - Kingston Trio ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/22 "2020-04-17T19:24:58Z")
[Coming To America](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFwSzZQ4MVI) by Neil Diamond? Not really about the Mexico/US boarder but about people immigrating to America. [Icky Thump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OjTspCqvk8) by the White Stripes is about crossing the US/Mexico border. The video even moreso than the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/23 "2020-04-17T19:37:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Two obvious ones: > > [On the Border - Eagles](https://youtu.be/WeuaxvEI9Dw) > > [Border Song - Elton John](https://youtu.be/Lm7b-32Mpbs) I first knew “Border Song” from [Aretha Franklin’s version,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzY45mZNIHU) which was called “Holy Moses” to not confuse her audience. A great, but lyrically unusual song for her. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/24 "2020-04-17T20:22:23Z")
The first verse of Steely Dan’s [“Do It Again”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmdiKePVUy8) qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/25 "2020-04-17T20:37:43Z")
[What am I doing hanging round?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXhw4N7uhBY) by Michael Martin Murphey, covered (pretty well) by The Monkees _Just a loudmouth yankee, I went down to Mexico_ before eventually returning on that train to San Antone ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/26 "2020-04-17T20:40:49Z")
[Come a Little Bit Closer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuWkVqum6a8) by Jay and the Americans in 1964. I haven’t heard this song in years. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/27 "2020-04-17T21:44:35Z")
Icehouse - [Cross the Border](https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=0h0m28s&v=O94QL14ZKuA#menu) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/28 "2020-04-17T22:10:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [On the Border - Al Stewart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2L_OyS21lM) Somewhere I have a cassette with this, but done live with Peter White. Oh, wait, YouTube has it, too ![A tasty live, dual acoustic guitars version with Al and Peter White](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCNTBhkTLWY). Want to watch them? A [couple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnXt80Xvq8E) [of](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_NqtdtVnQU) [opportunities](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyFQv2sjQy4)… ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/29 "2020-04-18T03:58:50Z")
“Border Radio” by the Blasters [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZybKiS4XHew/maxresdefault.jpg "The Blasters "Border Radio" Live at KDHX 2014/05/11") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZybKiS4XHew) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/30 "2020-04-18T06:01:45Z")
[Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyCEexG9xjw) > [@](#): > > I’d take requests on the telephone > I’m on a wavelength far from home > I feel a hot wind on my shoulder > I dial it in from south of the border [Clutch - Open Up the Border](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd3rUBaFYT0) > [@](#): > > Won’t you open up the border > To rivers running green > I have kilo loads of plastic > To trade for pumpkin seeds [Bruce Cockburn - If I Had A Rocket Launcher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9HFjErMMlA) > [@](#): > > I don’t believe in guarded borders and I don’t believe in hate > I don’t believe in generals or their stinking torture states [Rage Against The Machine - Without A Face](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P_aPXP8qys) is specifically about the US/Mexico border, although they don’t use the word in the song: > [@Zack de la Rocha](#): > > It seems as if soon as the… the wall in Germany fell, that the US government was busy building another one at the border between the US and Mexico. Since 1986, as a result of a lot of the hate talk and hysteria that the government of the United States has been speaking, 1,500 bodies have been found at the border. We wrote this song in response to it. It’s called “Without A Face.” ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/31 "2020-04-18T08:34:15Z")
Springsteen’s _The Ghost of Tom Joad_ could have been titled _Border Songs._ [Sinaloa Cowboys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVHCOOqJyo) [Across the Border](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMkAP9xnLJI) [Highway 29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3snH98WI7jM) [The Line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQV91ON2yak) [Balboa Park](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWmdBgHjLlY) ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/32 "2020-04-21T19:19:02Z")
I’m listening to ELO. Across the Border just ended. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/33 "2020-04-21T20:04:46Z")
“[Wolf Moon](https://youtu.be/69GjziuZS_0)” by Cris Williamson “On the airwaves in the night she can hear the Wolfman on the radio And she listens to the rock-‘n’-roll… She spins the dial now, the music’s burning out of Tijuana, Mexico She feels her summer dreams returning with the Wolfman on the radio” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/34 "2020-04-21T20:10:11Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “[Wolf Moon](https://youtu.be/69GjziuZS_0)” by Cris Williamson > > “On the airwaves in the night she can hear the Wolfman on the radio > And she listens to the rock-‘n’-roll… > She spins the dial now, the music’s burning out of Tijuana, Mexico > She feels her summer dreams returning with the Wolfman on the radio” Ok, if radio wave border travel counts, then also ZZ Top’s “[I Heard It On The X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPTfIPHLUcw)”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/35 "2020-04-22T07:18:08Z")
[Roads to Moscow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcmqILHOCKk) by Al Stewart mentions the border, but doesn’t linger there. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/36 "2020-04-22T07:53:58Z")
Midnight Oil - [Back on the borderline](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjQkx1h5dWI) for the title (and the clip) but not so much the lyrical content. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/37 "2020-04-22T09:36:40Z")
“Over the Waterfall” (The version I know is by Michelle Shocked). I assume they mean Niagara, which is on the border… ---
**Author:** ![PAjoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pajoe/32/58_2.png) [@PAjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PAjoe)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/38 "2020-04-22T12:23:59Z")
Willin’ by Little Feat “Smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico…” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/39 "2020-04-22T18:39:12Z")
**Lido Shuffle** by _Boz Skaggs_ features Lido heading for the border, not sure if he made it across though. “He’ll be makin’ like a bee line, headin’ for the border line, goin’ for broke” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/border-songs/851962/40 "2020-04-22T18:57:06Z")
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