Lyrics of Barrio Viejo - Ry Cooder

Barrio Viejo (original)

Viejo barrio, Barrio Viejo
Solo hay lugares parejos
Donde un dia hubo casas
Donde vivio nuestra raza
Solo quedan los escombros
De los hogares felizes
De las alegres familias
De esa gente que yo quise
Por las tardes se sentaban
Afuera a tomar el fresco
Yo pasaba y saludaba
Ya parece oigo al lejos
?Como ha estado, Juanita?
Buenas tardes, Isabel
Ahora que dices, Chalita
?Como esta Arturo y Manuel?
Viejo barrio, Barrio Viejo
Que en mi infancia te goze
Y con todos mis amigos
Iba descalzo y a pie
Desde el Meyer hasta al Oyo
Desde el Ocho hasta la Secia
Desde la Secia hasta el rio;
Ese era el mundo mio
Dicen que eramos pobres
Pues yo nunca lo note
Yo era feliz en mi mundo
De aquel barrio que adore
Bonitas las serenatas
A las tres de la manana
Que le cantaba mi chata
Pegadito a su ventana
Por la calle del convento
La casa destruida
Quedo como monumento
Pa’l gran amor de mi vida
Pobrecito viejo barrio
Como te debe doler
Cuando en el nombre del progreso
Te tumban otra pared
Viejo barrio, Barrio Viejo
Yo tambien enviejesi
Y cuando uno ya se hace viejo
Nadie se acuerda de ti
Vamonos muriendo juntos
Que me entieren en tu suelo
Y seremos los difuntos
Rodiados de mil recuerdos

(translation)

old neighborhood, old neighborhood
There are only equal places
where one day there were houses
where our race lived
Only rubble remains
of happy homes
Of the happy families
Of those people that I loved
In the evenings they sat
Out to drink the cool
I passed and greeted
It already seems I hear in the distance
How have you been, Juanita?
Good afternoon, Elizabeth.
Now what do you say, Chalita?
How are Arturo and Manuel?
old neighborhood, old neighborhood
That in my childhood I enjoyed you
and with all my friends
He was barefoot and on foot
From the Meyer to the Oyo
From the Eight to the Secia
From the Secia to the river;
that was my world
They say we were poor
Well I never noticed
I was happy in my world
From that neighborhood that I adore
beautiful serenades
At three in the morning
That my chata sang to him
glued to your window
down the street of the convent
the destroyed house
I stand as a monument
For the great love of my life
poor old neighborhood
how it must hurt
When in the name of progress
They knock down another wall
old neighborhood, old neighborhood
I am also old
And when one gets old
no one remembers you
Let's go dying together
bury me in your soil
And we will be the deceased
Surrounded by a thousand memories