C 
  I guess she put her blue dress on 
Am 
  And walked out late last night 
C 
  Left one silk stocking 
           Am 
  Dangling from the bedside light 
Dm 
  I sobered up and called her name 
F 
  Just before the dawn 
Dm 
  I saw her footprints in the sand 
      F 
  And knew that she had gone 
               C       Dm  F 
  Down the Rio Grande 
 
  I pulled out of Albuquerque 
  Prayin’ I wasn’t late 
  I got a couple cups of coffee 
  At some joint off the interstate 
  Passin’ through Las Cruces 
  I swear I saw her car 
  She always said she’d go someday 
  But never said how far 
  Down the Rio Grande 
 
Chorus 
Dm               G 
  Maybe she’s in Brownsville 
        C               Am 
  She’s got some family there 
Dm               G 
  She was always talkin’ 'bout 
      C                Am 
  The salty Gulf Coast air 
                  Dm     F 
  Where the river ends 
               C        Dm   F 
  Down the Rio Grande 
 
  I saw an old grey heron 
  Flyin’ south against the wind 
  Storm clouds over Juarez 
  Rollin’ east to the Big Bend 
  I drove down Highway Ninety 
  Through a dusty desert wind 
  I didn’t know where it would lead me 
  Or if I’d find her again 
  Down the Rio Grande 
 
  I lit my last cigarette 
  As the sky began to clear 
  Black mountains up ahead 
  A red sundown in my mirror 
  Lost all the border 
  ‘Tween the future and the past 
  One fading slowly 
  And the other comin’ fast 
  Down the Rio Grande 
 
Repeat Chorus 
 
  I bought a bottle in Del Rio 
  And I parked on the side of the road 
  I stayed up all night 
  Starin’ at the lights of Mexico 
  And I walked down to border bridge 
  At the break of day 
  And I threw that empty bottle off 
  And watched it float away 
  Down the Rio Grande