Santa Ana Wind

When these old adobe walls
Turn to dust and then they fall
And the creatures of the night
Call out your name
Mother Nature she'll grab hold
Of all the things that we've let go
Here comes an ill-intentioned wind
That knows your name

In the desert night it builds
Near Gila monstered hills
A wisp of dust, then a whisper, then a curse
Soon it's ninety miles an hour
Near El Centro water tower
Look out El Cajon, you'll be the first

How those Santa Ana winds begin to blow
From Death Valley to the wide Pacific shore
Won't be no saints come marchin' in
No movie stars or clergymen
Where will you run when that wind howls 'neath your door
When that Santa Ana wind begins to roar?

California, my home state
Cars of people sit and wait
They know it's coming, they can feel it in their bones
All that real estate and pride
All those Indians that died
While a Spanish priest danced the drunk fandango

They say the troubadours invented love
A thousand years before the flood
They rode from town to town
Singing up the mystery
Well, the wind sings its own song
Moving patiently along
Burning down the lie of Western history

How that Santa Ana wind begins to blow
From Death Valley to the wide Pacific shore
Won't be no saints come marchin' in
No movie stars or clergymen
Where will you run when that wind howls 'neath your door
When that Santa Ana wind begins to roar?