The Rosarita Beach Café

"The Rosarita Beach Café" is song first released in demo form on the 2007 Warren Zevon compilation album Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings. The song was written by Bill Martin and originally recorded by Russ Giguere with slightly different lyrics on his 1971 album Hexagram 16.

About the Song

The song takes the form of a narrative about a man who goes into a café one dreary day and ends up trapped there because he can’t pay his tab – he has a million dollar bill but he can’t change it. While trapped in the café, the man is kind enough to buy drinks for his fellow café goers, not seeing anything better to do other than requesting that his mail be sent to the café. The main action of the song is in the form of of him continually losing gambling sessions, describing the devil himself coming up to play an all night game of poker. However, the unfortunate fellow’s straight flush is then described as being flung out onto the beach in a motion almost alike to a heavenly (or hellish) wind. The ending could be described as unrelenting, reflecting on what seems like an eternal imprisonment. The meaning of the "The Rosarita Beach Café" is obviously one of entrapment, in this case a literal entrapment inside a dining establishment, but it could also symbolize mental and emotional entrapment, such as the main character’s hopelessness and his crushing debt. The sometimes crushing side of life is the general meaning of the song.

Lyrics

Note: the text of this song's lyrics is not under the same copyright license as the wiki's encyclopedic text, it is used under fair use/dealing.

With Tennesee sour mash whiskey on my breath,

Rosalee, Suzie and Lucy on my mind,

I drove my old car down dusty streets of this old border town.

But I never thought I'd get stuck here such a long long time.

I've got a million-dollar bill, they can't change it.

And they won't let me leave until my tab is paid,

So I might as well settle down, yes

And buy the house another round.

Send my mail to the Rosarita Beach Café.

It was one of those hot dry dime-a-dozen Mexicali days,

When I fell through the door of the Rosarita Beach Café.

And I got myself a table with a view of the breakers in the bay

And another cold Dos Equis on the way.

I've got a million-dollar bill, they can't change it.

And they won't let me leave until my tab is paid,

So I might as well settle down, yes

And buy the house another round.

Send my mail to the Rosarita Beach Café.

Well I soon fell in with thugs and thieves and gamblers from the beach,

And the devil himself suggested an all night game,

But the night winds came along, like some dark eyed señorita's song,

And blew my straight flush out across the waves.

I've got a million-dollar bill, they can't change it.

And they won't let me leave until my tab is paid,

So I might as well settle down, yes

And buy the house another round.

Send my mail to the Rosarita Beach Café.

Awwww....

External links

• Song tabs and chords