Busted, broke and beaten
In a beach town in the south
It was something I had eaten
And I was taking nil by mouth
Puerto Arista is a bad place
One rutted highway long
Cinderblock cantinas line the beach
And the undertow is strong
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
No palms grow in Puerto Arista,
The beach is pebbled and brown
The only people who stay here
Are the ones who come to drown
I was sick as a dog, out of money
Couldn’t eat to stay thin
My partner left when the going got funny
Couldn’t help me, the shape I was in
Six days in, I was getting sicker
Still eating nothing for bichos
The only thing I could hold down was liquor
Sweating through my skin and my clothes
I met my guardian angel,
My savior in a bar
Captain John Yancey, US Marine Corps (retired)
And he had a car
John had served in the Navy,
Won a Navy Cross or two
That was in the Pacific
In the middle of World War Two
He enlisted again in Korea
Charged the hill at the Choisin Reservoir
Took three bullets in the face
Before he led his platoon home from the war
He fought segregation in Arkansas
Ran for the Senate on peace
But Orval Faubus defeated him
His ideals didn’t change in the least
He ran a liquor store in Little Rock
The most decorated man in the state
He looked like a ruined Roman bust
With his bullet-riddled face
He was driving north from Guatemala,
Headed for Cuernavaca and the sun
He needed someone to help him drive
And he treated me like his son
We got to Cuernavaca,
Still a beautiful town
He put me up in a hotel
He introduced me all around
John saved my life on that dirty beach
And gave me a new one in town
I owe John a debt for that
And I thank him for not letting me drown
Captain John Yancey, US Marine Corps (Retired)
Died in Arkansas in ‘85
He has legion posts named after him
And he was the bravest man alive
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news