In the quiet hours before the dawn Buttons up his uniform Takes out his badge and pins it on For thirty years he's enforced the law And he drives out on the Rio Grande Across the dry and sunburned land And on this side he takes his stand again They won't get through this bordertown He turns 'em back, he stands his ground But still they come, because they know Somewhere the streets are paved with gold Somewhere beyond the sound of this bordertown It's not his place to say what's fair He's done his duty all these years In his mind the law's the law But then at dusk she wades across And he sees the hope thats in her eyes Child with dreams of a brand new life It's not his job to say what's right or wrong They won't get through this bordertown He turns 'em back, he stands his ground But still they come, because they know Somewhere the streets are paved with gold Somewhere beyond the sound of this bordertown As night falls over Mexico He waits there as she comes ashore Finished, there's a moment of faith He turns his back and he walks away They won't get through this bordertown He turns 'em back, he stands his ground But still they come, because they know Somewhere the streets are paved with gold Somewhere beyond the sound of this bordertown