“Spanish is the Loving Tongue” is a song based on the poem “A Border Affair” written by Charles Badger Clark in 1907. Clark was a cowboy poet who lived throughout the American West, and was named the Poet Laureate of South Dakota in 1937. The poem was set to music in 1925 by Billy Simon. Over the years, the song was recorded by many top recording artists, including Bob Dylan, Ian and Sylvia, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, Marianne Faithfull, Emmylou Harris, Michael Martin Murphey, and The Chad Mitchell Trio (under the name “Adios, mi Corazon”).
Lyrics
Spanish is the loving tongue
Soft as music, light as spray
‘T was a girl it learned it from
Living down Sonora way.Well I don’t look much like a lover
Still I say her love words over
Mostly when I’m all alone
Mi amor, mi corazón.Moonlight on the patio
Oh señora now too ill
Me and Juana talkin’ low
So the madre couldn’t hear.Oh how these hours would go a-flyin’
All too soon I hear her sighin’
In her sweet and sorry tone
Mi amor, mi corazón.Haven’t seen her since that night
I can’t cross the line you know
Wanted for a gamblin’ fight
Like as not it’s better so.Still I’ve always kind of missed her
Since that last sad day I kissed her
Broke her heart, lost my own
Adios mi corazón.
