Ava Maria Morales lyrics

A long time ago in the small border town of Nogales

There lived a beautiful Mexican girl

Named Ava Maria Morales

Her dark hair would glisten and shine

When touched by the sun

And she loved a cowboy that told her

He worked on a ranch just outside of Tucson

Diamonds he gave to her caused many people to say

How could he give her such diamonds

As these on thirty a month cowboy pay

She paid no attention

To what they said or what they did

'Cause she never doubted he worked on a ranch

Out of Tucson, just like he said

Then to Nogales, one mornin', came ridin' a stranger

He wore a badge on the front of his vest

The new one in town was a Ranger

And he showed some pictures

Of outlaws and bandits he chased

And one of the pictures caused Ava Maria

To turn with fear on her face

Ava Maria

It's true what they said

Your cowboy's an outlaw

With a price on his head

The Ranger left town

On the trail of the outlaws he hunted

Ava Maria prayed he'd never

Catch the cowboy she loved and she wanted

'Cause deep in her heart she believed

That the Ranger was wrong

The outlaw just looked like the cowboy that worked

On the ranch just outside of Tucson

True love would never let Ava Maria believe it

And there in her window each evenin' she'd light

A candle and hoped he would see it

The years turned her dark hair to silver

But love still lived on

She prayed every night for the cowboy that worked

On the ranch just outside of Tucson

One night the town of Nogales was saddened to see

The window where Ava Maria would watch

Was dark where a light used to be

Some love stories live for a while

And then they are gone

For over a century the story

Of Ava Maria has lived on and on

Ava Maria

If your spirit lives on

I hope you have found him

At the ranch just outside of Tucson

• Artist:Marty Robbins
• Album:Under Western Skies (1996)