El Salvador i/ɛl ˈsælvədɔr/ (Spanish: República de El Salvador, literally 'Republic of The Savior') is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country as well as Central America. El Salvador borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, and the countries of Guatemala to the north and Honduras to the east. Its easternmost region lies on the coast of the Gulf of Fonseca, opposite Nicaragua. As of 2009, El Salvador had a population of approximately 5,744,113 people, composed predominantly of Mestizos.
The colón was the official currency of El Salvador from 1892 to 2001, when it adopted the U.S. Dollar.
In 2010 El Salvador ranked in the top 10 among Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index and in the top 3 in Central America (behind Costa Rica and Panama), due in part to ongoing rapid industrialization. In addition, tropical forests and overall forest cover has expanded by nearly 20 percent from the year 1992 to 2010. Making it one of the few countries experiencing reforestation.
There's a sunny little country south of Mexico
Where the winds are gentle and the waters flow
But breezes aren't the only things that blow
In El Salvador
If you took the little lady for a moonlight drive
Odds are still good you'd come back alive
But everyone is innocent until they arrive
In El Salvador
If the rebels take a bus on the grand highway
The government destroys a village miles away
The man on the radio says
"Now we'll play 'South of the Borde'"
And in the morning the natives say
"We're happy you have lived another day
Last night a thousand more passed away
In El Salvador"
There's a television crew here from ABC
Filming Rio Lempe and the refugees
Calling murdered children the 'Tragedy'
Of El Salvador
Before the government camera 20 feet away
Another man is asking for continued aid
Food and medicine and hand grenades
For El Salvador
There's a thump, a rumble, and the buildings sway
A soldier fires the acid spray
The public address system starts to play
'South of the Border'
You run for cover and hide your eyes
You hear the screams from paradise
They've fallen further than you realize
In El Salvador
Just like Poland is protected by her Russian friends
The junta is assisted by Americans
And if 60 million dollars seems too much to spend
In El Salvador
They say for half a billion they could do it right
Bomb all day and burn all night
Until there's not a living thing upright
In El Salvador
And they'll continue training troops in the USA
And watch the nuns that got away
And teach the military bands to play
South of the Border
Killed the people to set them free
Who put this price on their liberty
Don't you think it's time to leave
(performed by Joan Baez & Jackson Browne from her album Speaking of Dreams)
Now that the city is dreaming, viva the pale moonlight
Take to your bibles, take to your beds, now that nothing seems right
National Guards who they pay by the week are gonna clash in the curfew tonight
With Los companeros born in the war, from Warsaw to San Salvador
A voice from the past comes a callin', saying hold every strong heart dear
These are the days when it seems like there's nothing but newspapers, order, fear
Praise to the ones who are burried gone, and to the brave hearts who just disappeared
Los companeros, born in the war, from Belfast to San Salvador
Whad'a you got to do to get through
They're deaf as a graveyard
What does Nicaragua say to you?
Think of the midnight, silver & black, think if the sun can be fooled
Think of the four sisters shot in the back for running a land reform school
Think of the ones taken hard in the hills, they can be beaten but they can never be ruled
Los Companeros, born in the war, viva El Salvador
A girl cries in the early morning
Woken by the sound of a gun
She knows somewhere somebody's dying
Beneath the rising sun
Outside the window of her cabaña
The shadows are full of her fears
She knows her lover is out there somewhere
He's been on the run for a year
Oh, the soul of El Salvador
Bells ring out in the chapel steeple
A priest prepares to say mass
The sad congregation come tired and hungry
To pray that trouble will pass
Meanwhile the sun rises over the dusty streets
Where his crowd gathers round.
Flies and mosquitoes are drinking from pools of blood
Where the boby is found
Oh, the soul of El Salvador
Out on the ranch the rich man's preparing
To go for his morning ride
They've saddled his horse out in the corral
He walks out full of pride
He looks like a cowboy from one of those pictures
A president made in the past
Peasants in rags, the stand back for they know
That El Rico travels fast
Over the soul of El Salvador
A girl cries in the early morning
Woken by the sound of a gun
She knows somewhere somebody's dying
Beneath the rising sun
Outside the window of her cabaña
The shadows are full of her fears
She knows her lover is out there somewhere
He's been on the run for a year
Oh, the soul of El Salvador
Oh, the soul of El Salvador
It's time to tear this place down
I've got the last gig on my mind
Not seen my friends in ages
Have i been left behind?
It's time to figure out why
I find myself in custody
With each and every question
Words come so easily
Fly to el salvador
I don't know why and i don't know what for
I've seen the picture for myself
Where did that label go?
I tried it out but it didn't work so
I'll choose the picture for myself
It's time to start all over
Take only one thing spare to wear
Head for the check-in lights and get up into the air
It's time to take new measures
Someone will put us up tonight
Far from our place of rest
I've almost got you in sight
Fly to el salvador
I don't know why and i don't know what for
I've seen the picture for myself
Where did that label go?
I tried it out but it didn't work so
I'll choose the picture for myself
First class and big hotels
(i can't quite put my finger on it)
Videos and global sales
(i can't quite put my finger on it)
Free drinks that you pay yourself
(i can't quite put my finger on it)
Fly to el salvador
I don't know why and i don't know what for
I've seen the picture for myself
Where did that label go?
I tried it out but it didn't work so
He could barely remember
When the fighting began
It was early September
When he lost his old man
Soon the time came to leave there
And to start a new life
How it seems so unfair
When they gave him a gun and a knife
So he fights with a gun in his hand
(A gun in his hand)
For what reason he can't understand
(He can't understand)
Yeah, he fights with a gun in his hand
(A gun in his hand)
For the freedom of their land
Can you hear them crying out
(All the people in El Salvador?)
Can you hear a distant shout
(From the people in El Salvador?)
As he stares at the ceiling
He thinks back quite aways
It was him that was dealing
Tell you those were the days
As he stares at a white dove
Tears roll down on his face
And then once filled with love
That only God himself can replace
Oh, so he fights with a gun in his hand
(A gun in his hand)
For what reason he can't understand
(He can't understand)
Yeah, he fights with a gun in his hand
(A gun in his hand)
For the freedom of their land
Can you hear the crying out
(All the people in El Salvador?)
Can you hear a distant shout
(From the people in El Salvador?)
Cross your heart and hope to die
(For the people in El Salvador?)
Still they kill not knowing why
(All the people in El Salvador?)
Can you hear them cry?
Can you see them die?
Can you tell me why?
(Can you tell me why?)
All the people in El Salvador
(El Salvador)
Can you hear them cry?
Can you see them die?
Can you tell me why?
(Can you tell me why?)
All the people in El Salvador
(El Salvador)
Can you hear the crying out
(All the people in El Salvador?)
Can you hear a distant shout
(From the people in El Salvador?)
Cross your heart and hope to die
(For the people in El Salvador?)
Still they kill not knowing why
Conjugate these prison bars
It's like, that's right, the uprising starts
(Stay on the mark)
Fashion victim indiscreet
Your destiny is hooked on speed
No time to think for yourself
You're feeding the flames
Four in the morning, you're still up
Lost in the cuts
When they come to scrape you up
Feel this time, your vision's a cloud
There's a time, will come
The only solution is life
It's a popular weapon
Preaching the gospel
It's torture to disinfect
To liberate, it's beneath your fucking skin
The rivers filled with caution in your mind
It's torture, the lessons to reflect
To disinfect, defuse
The poison culture from behind
To liberate, the time will come
It's beneath your fucking skin
When I put this wreckage on
It's my slow ride to the depths of art
(Call it a crutch)
This revolution starts with shaving the hair
Off your private parts
The message is come clean
And the meaningful gauge contortion
I walk this road myself
So when they come to right your wrongs
Get Buddha-sized
Believe in me now
There's a time will come
The only solution is life
It's a popular weapon
Preaching the gospel
It's torture to disinfect
To liberate, it's beneath your fucking skin
The rivers filled with caution in your mind
It's torture, the lessons to reflect
To disinfect, defuse
The poison culture from behind
To liberate, the time will come
It's beneath your fucking skin
To liberate
It's beneath your fucking skin
El Salvador, El Salvador