From the recording Tomorrow Will Follow Today
Roberts/Lakeman
South of Mexico City sits the ‘Isla de las Munecas’. Created by a doll-collecting hermit in memory of a drowned child.
Pete Thomas - Accordion
Lyrics
Out on the waters of Xochimilco
We live on a raft of the lake.
A small floating garden made years ago
But it's home to the family.
Left by their owners, gathered by me
They are broken, unwanted, unloved.
I give them all beds in the juniper trees
And they watch from the branches above.
La Moneca, La Moneca, porcelain, perfect and small.
La Moneca, La Moneca, Queen of the island, the Island of Dolls
I couldn't save her, poor tiny girl
Now I see her wherever I go
I visit the place I imagine she fell
And my dolls tell me things I can't know
La Moneca is the queen of them all
And I keep her beside me all night
Her body is blistered and peeling away
But she whispers to me
That I'll be alright.
If you should journey along this canal
And you hear a soft sound on the breeze
Say here and listen , you might hear a song
From my forgotten dolls in the trees.