El Corrido Pensilvanio

Unknown, ca. 1923

El día 28 de abril (1)
a las seis de la manaña,
Salimos en un enganche
pa'l estado de Pensilvania.

Mi chinita me decía,
—Yo me voy en esa agencia,
para lavarle su ropa
para darle su asistencia—

El enganchista me dijo,
—No lleves a tu familia
para no pasar trabajos
en el estado de West Virginia.—

Pa' que sepas que te quiero
me dejas en Fort Worth,
Cuando ya estés trabajando
me escribes de donde estés.

—Cuando ya estés por allà
me escribes, no seas ingrato,
En contestación to mando
de recuerdo mi retrato.—

Adiós estado de Texas
con toda tu plantación,
Ya me voy pa' Pennsylvania
por no piscar algodón.

Adiós, Fort Worth y Dallas,
pueblos de mucha importancia,
Ya me voy pa' Pensilvania
por no andar en la vagancia.

Al llegar a ese Milwaukee
cambiamos locomotora,
De allí salimos corriendo
ochenta millas por hora.

Cuando llegamos allá
que del tren ya nos bajamos
preguntan las italianas
—De dónde vienen mexicanos?—

Responden los mexicanos
los que ya hablan inglés,
—Venimos en un enganche
del pueblo de Fort Worth.—

Estos versos son compuestos
cuando yo venía en camino,
Son poesías de un mexicano
nombrado por Concestino.

Ya con ésta me despido (5) (6)
con mi sombrero en la mano,
Y mis fieles compañeros
son trescientos mexicanos.

On the 28th of April
At six o'clock in the morning
We set out under contract
For the state of Pennsylvania.

My little sweetheart said to me,
"I'm going into that office-
And say I'll wash your clothes
And take care of you."

The contractor said to me,
"Don't take your family
Or you'll pass up this job
It's in the state of West Virginia."

"So you'll know that I love you,
When you leave me in Fort Worth,
And you have started working,
Write me from where you are.

"When you are there
Write me, don't be forgetful;
In reply I will send you
My picture as a ‘forget-me-not'."

Goodbye, state of Texas,
With you goes your plantation
I'm going to Pennsylvania
But not for picking cotton.

Goodbye, Fort Worth and Dallas,
You're not much to me now,
I'm going to Pennsylvania
To be a vagrant no more.

When we got to the steel works
We saw the locomotive
And we came running
At eighty miles an hour!

When we arrived there
And got off the train
The Italian girls asked us,
"Where do you come from, Mexicans?"

The Mexicans reply,
Those who know how "to English,"
"We come out under contract
From the town of Forth Worth."

These verses were composed
When I was on the way;
I'm a Mexican boy,
Call me "Contestino."

And with this I take my leave
With sombrero in my hands,
And my faithful companions,
Three hundred Mexicans.

 

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