CHICANONAUTICA FACES THE ARIZONA/AMERICA CONFLICT WITH A COUNTRY SOUNDTRACK

Here I go again, shooting my mouth off in Chicanonautica over at La Bloga about the latest developments in the conflict between my home state and my native land, hoping it doesn't turn into a shooting war.

To lighten things up over here at Mondo Ernesto, I'm reaching out to the Anglo community, and presenting some country music extras. Why not? My grandfather always said he loved, “shit-kicking music.” And to quote my dad, “I'm country – it doesn't matter which side of the border.”

Let's start with an oldie – singing cowboy Gene Autry doing buckaroo Cole Porter's classic of nostalgia for the days when Westerners didn't like the idea of fences ruining their wide-open spaces:

I'd love it if someone translated it into Spanish and recorded it ranchera-style.

Unfortunately, these days things are different along the frontier (it means “border” – somehow crossing a frontier is The American Way, but crossing a border is a crime). Kind of crazy, actually. Getting psycho, as Eddie Noack warned:

I just might end up like this, the way Porter Wagoner said, with an eloquent use of the echo chamber:

And I'll leave you with Johnny Paycheck and this touching tale of folks learning to get along in bar in Texas: