The Devils Highway Digital Program

Digital Program

Original music inspired by The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Bushwick Book Club Seattle
presents
Original Music Inspired by
Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
April 12, 2025
at Hugo House

Hosted by Wes Weddell

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Featuring Musical Performances from
(Click name for primary link, * = first Bushwick appearance, ^ = lyrics included below)
Rights to all song lyrics ©/℗ the individual artists, reprinted here with permission

The Go Janes^

Facebook Instagram Bandcamp

Mark Ippolito^

Instagram

Megan Brickwood*
Instagram Bandcamp

Carl Christensen*
Instagram

Naomi Adele Smith^

Instagram

Aline & Wes
Facebook Instagram X/Twitter YouTube Bandcamp

Where’s Beth*^
Facebook Instagram YouTube Bandcamp

Chris Poage
Facebook Instagram Bandcamp

Karen Laura Peters*
Instagram YouTube Bandcamp

Vince Martinez
Bandcamp

Plus the Bushwick Quiz and more!

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Connect with Bushwick
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2024-2025 “Banned Books” Mainstage Season at Hugo House, Town Hall Seattle, & online

Thank you, Bushwick Members!

Original music inspired by The Devil’s Highway by
Luis Alberto Urrea

PERFORMER-PROVIDED LYRICS
Rights to all song lyrics ©/℗ the individual artists, reprinted here—exactly as submitted—with permission

The Go Janes
Devil’s Highway/Scorpion
by Kathleen Tracy, Patrice O’Neill and Arni Adler

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I know how to live in hell

I wait until the night is black

And sift my way from underground

To cross the devil’s highway track

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Cartel gets you in the morning

Cozy up like they’re your friend

Coyote gets you in the afternoon

I get you in the end

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I slip inside this empty shoe

Skitter across these sun baked bones

Slink past a photograph of you

Smell the remains of your last moan

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Cartel gets you in the morning

Cozy up like they’re your friend

Coyote gets you in the afternoon

I get you in the end

—

There’s so much left behind for me

So many places left to hide

I thank the devil for the feast

Here in the dust of hope denied

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I know how to live in hell

I wait until the night is black

And there’s no place I’d rather be

Than on the devil’s highway track

—

Cartel gets you in the morning

Time to feed the beast again

Coyote gets you in the afternoon

I get you in the end

There’s so much left behind for me…

Mark Ippolito
Where Will I Sleep Tonight?

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Where will I sleep tonight?

When I’m over the border

And I think of you

Walk a few more miles

and I will sleep tonight

—

Where will you be tonight?

Take our baby in your arms

And hold her tight

Stand by the window

Turn on the lights

That’s where I’ll be tonight

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How did I get here?

How far have I fallen behind?

Why did I leave her?

Do I have what it takes to survive?

Oh, where will I sleep tonight?

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How much longer?

Can I keep one man’s dream alive?

How much longer?

Do I have what it takes to survive?

Oh, will I see you tonight?

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I’m coming home.

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Naomi Adele Smith
Eighteen Hundred Dollars

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Reymundo hopes a summer of work

Will cover the cost of a brand new roof

And furniture for his wife

Reymundo Jr. walks with his dad

And vows to pick fruit by his side

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School supplies, new clothes, roof, cement walls

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Edgar will build Claudia’s house

And marry her in 5 years

Enrique left his lucky boots

And Octavia drowned in tears

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1800 dollars for the hope of a better life

13000 pesos, hug your babies, kiss your wife

Hear the rooster’s lie

Walk until you die

You’re already falling – why not try to fly?

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Mario’s family needs a home

He walks for his wife and children

He’s dreaming of a bodega

The kids sell candy and lottery tickets

And Irma’s making tortas for the lunch crowd

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School supplies, new clothes, roof, cement walls

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Julian will fix up his mom’s place,

Wife’s expecting her first

Reyno and Augustina adopted,

Love in their hearts fit to burst

—

1800 dollars for the hope of a better life

13000 pesos, hug your babies, kiss your wife

Hear the rooster’s lie

Walk until you die

You’re already falling – why not try to fly?

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Rooster belt, Maria tattoo

Green shirt and socks

Gray comic books

8 liters of water, 8 liters of water each

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1800 dollars for the hope of a better life

13000 pesos, hug your babies, kiss your wife

Hear the rooster’s lie

Walk until you die

You’re already falling – why not try to fly?

Reymundo hopes a summer of work

Will cover the cost of a brand new roof

And furniture for his wife

Reymundo Jr. walks with his dad

And vows to pick fruit by his side.

Where’s Beth
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Riding in the back of your truck

Not a cloud in the sky

Spitting and making mud

Watching for a surprise

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Harsh and faithful sun

Will you speak

What do you know about love

Will you teach me

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Is this the idea

Someone to blame

Carving the face of

A stranger

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There is another world

Inside ours

Angel teaching the bird

To guide us

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Do I have to say it first

What I want to hear

Echo from lover

To enemy

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Are you feeling afraid

Of the sun

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