Carmelita is a beautiful song by Warren Zevon. Produced by Jackson Browne in 1976 with stellar back ups: Glenn Frey and David Lindley both played guitar on this track and Frey added harmony vocals as well. Session stars Waddy Wachtel (guitar), Bob Glaub (bass) and Larry Zack (drums) also played on it.
The guy in this song has hit rock bottom. He's broke, strung out on heroin, cut off from Methadone and his lover Carmelita's welfare checks have run out. Zevon called it "a cheerful number about heroin, a substance with which, happily, I had only a brief flirtation and not a tragic love affair."
It has beautiful Spanish style guitar lines, a Desolation Row vibe and is clearly a picture of Zevon's 1970s LA.
"And I'm there with her in Ensenada/And I'm here in Echo Park"
"Well I pawned my Smith Corona/And I went to meet my man, He hangs out down on Alvarado Street/by the Pioneer Chicken Stand.
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| Echo Park 1970s |
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| Pioneer Chicken (on Alvarado St) 1962-1993 |
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| Family with dog, Echo Park, 2023 |
The song is too damn depressing...also impossible for me to play. Thanks Waddy. So it is not on my personal setlist.
However, when thinking about what is happening on the Southern Border, this tune sounds appropriate.
My first approach was to use the Karaoke version of this song from Youtube. There is one video that has the lovely instrumental with the vocals taken out on the verse but you can hear Zevon's vocal on the chorus. So, the playing is all mine....
The title of the song comes from Chicago's initial reaction to the Texas governor busing migrants up here. Then Mayor Lori Lightfoot called Abbott, a “cheap politician” and “a man without any morals, humanity or shame”. She welcomed the 79 migrants with "open arms."
Now that there are 8,000 migrants in Chicago, Lightfoot and new Mayor Brandon Johnson have called the situation a "crisis."
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| Mayor Johnson and former Mayor Lightfoot: The long and short of it. |
Open Arms
There’s a crisis at the border of our hearts and mind,
We keep looking for answers that are hard to find.
Hearts and Minds is the title of a 1974 documentary about the Vietnam war. The title comes from a quote by Lyndon Johnson, "So, we must be ready to fight in Vietnam; but, the ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds - of the people who actually live out there."
My recollection of the title is a quote by Charles Colson? John Wayne? Teddy Roosevelt? "When You've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
We want to welcome you with open arms, lay your burdens down
Can we all reach out as brothers and share our common ground?
Some politicians put on a show pleasing to their base
They’re not solving problems they’re just saving face.
I had difficulty with this line about the politicians. I added a modifier because not all officials are pandering on immigration. What is undeniable is that "the last extensive (immigration) package came under President Ronald Reagan in 1986, and President George H.W. Bush signed a more limited effort four years later." That is 33 years ago!
We want to welcome you with open arms, lay your burdens down
Can we all reach out as brothers and share our common ground?
Heard of a guy who talked about a shining city on a hill.
If we’re not climbing toward it, we’re just standing still.
Another inspiration by (or ripoff of) Dylan from his beautiful song, Red River Shore.
"Now I heard of a guy who lived a long time ago, a man of sorrow and strife. That if someone around him died and was dead/He knew how to bring 'em on back to life."
"The Shining City on a Hill" is a phrase attributed to John Winthrop (1587-1649) from a speech he made to his fellow Puritans in 1630. Political figures including JFK, Barack Obama, and most notably Ronald Reagan used the phrase in his farewell address in 1989." I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity."
We want to welcome you with open arms, lay your burdens down
Can we all reach out as human beings and share our common ground?
Thanks for reading, watching and listening.
FYI...Youtube recognized the melody!
