Am  Dm  Am  Dm  Am  Dm  Am

[Verse]
                Dm      Am
My name is Juan Hano de Castro
   F                        Am
My father was a Spanish Grandee
                       Dm
But I won my wife in a card game
                   E7             Am
To hell with those lords o'er the sea

[Verse]
                    Dm           Am
In my youth I had a Monterey homestead
        F                      Am
Creeks, valleys, mountains all mine
                          Dm
I built me a snug little cabin
                     E7       Am
And I roofed it with Monterey pine

[Verse]
                    Dm      Am
And I had me a bronc, was a buckskin
       F                            Am
Like a hawk he could glide over the trail
                       Dm
We rode 40 miles every Friday
               E7          Am
To get me some grub and my mail

[Chorus]
                         Dm             Am
But the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
        F                    E7    F  E
You may win a card game in Jolon
        Am         Dm           Am
But the lion still rules the Barranca
      Dm           F       Am
And a man there is always alone

[Verse]
                Dm        Am
I sat in a card game at Jolon
  F                                 Am
I played there with an hombre named Juan
                        Dm
And after I'd taken his money
                      E7           Am
He said, "All against my daughter, Dawn"

[Verse]
                   Dm      Am
I picked up the ace, I had won her
   F                          Am
My heart which was down at my feet
                            Dm
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry
                     E7          Am
Like a warm summer's day she was sweet

[Verse]
              Dm          Am
He opened the door to the kitchen
                       Dm         Am
And he called the girl out with a curse
                                   Dm
Saying "Take her, Goddamn her, you won her
                    E7        Am
She's yours now for better or worse"

[Chorus]
                           Dm             Am
Yeah, the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
        F                    E7    F  E
You may win a card game in Jolon
        Am         Dm           Am
But the lion still rules the Barranca
      Dm           F       Am
And a man there is always alone

[Verse]
                Dm       Am
Her arms had to tighten around me
      F                         Am
As we rode up the hill from the south
                                    Dm
Not a word did I hear from her that day
                   E7         Am
Or a kiss from her pretty red mouth

[Verse]
              Dm       Am
We got to the cabin at twilight
        F                       Am
And the stars twinkled over the coast
                                Dm
She soon loved the orchard, the valley
                    E7           Am
But I knew that she loved me the most

[Verse]
               Dm        Am
Oh, that was a gay happy winter
  F                     Am
I carved on a cradle of pine
                              Dm
By a fire in that snug little shanty
                 E7            Am
I sang with that sweet wife of mine

[Chorus]
                         Dm             Am
But the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
        F                    E7    F  E
You may win a card game in Jolon
        Am         Dm           Am
But the lion still rules the Barranca
      Dm           F       Am
And a man there is always alone

[Verse]
               Dm        Am
And then I got hurt in a landslide
        F                    Am
Crushed hip and twice broken bone
                              Dm
She saddled up Buck just like lightning
               E7          Am
Rode off for a doctor in Jolon

[Verse]
                      Dm        Am
But the lion screamed in the Barranca
         F                         Am
Buck, he bolted and he fell on the slide
                                  Dm
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight
                   E7            Am
My heart died that night with my bride

[Chorus]
                         Dm             Am
Oh, the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
        F                    E7    F  E
You may win a card game in Jolon
        Am         Dm           Am
But the lion still rules the Barranca
      Dm           F       Am
And a man there is always alone

[Verse]
                Dm         Am
They buried her out in the orchard
     F                    Am
They carried me down into town
                        Dm
I lost my Chiquita, mi (swayno)
                  E7       Am
I'm an old broken man all alone

[Verse]
                Dm            Am
The cabin still stands on the hillside
    F                      Am
Its doors open wide to the rain
                                 Dm
Both the cradle and my heart are empty
            E7        Am
I never can go there again

[Chorus]
                           Dm             Am
Yeah, the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
        F                    E7    F  E
You may win a card game in Jolon
        Am         Dm           Am
But the lion still rules the Barranca
      F            E7      Am
And a man there is always alone