[Verse 1: chicana tex-mex female MC, proud and punchy over the accordion and the bajo sexto] Hundred-ten pounds in the dirt, they call me Flaca at the chutes Daddy's buckle on my belt and Mama's ostrich boots Every vaquero on the rail laughin' in his hat "Mira, mira, little girl, you gonna land flat on your back" But I grew up on the Garza place, two hundred acres dry Watched the bank come up the caliche in a silver car in July Mama held that paper eight long years with both her hands Workin' doubles at the cannery to keep a hold of the land They took it anyway, the cattle and the windmill and the gate So don't tell me 'bout holdin' on, I learned it young and straight [Hook: tex-mex female MC, shouted, the accordion doubling every line] Give me eight seconds, eight seconds, that's all Mama held eight years 'fore she watched the ranch fall Every cowboy in the chute say the girl gonna slip Eight seconds? Baby, I was born with a grip [Verse 2: tex-mex female MC, faster, the bajo sexto driving] Stock man Rudy Trevino got a bull nobody rides Eighteen hundred pounds of black with a scar on both his sides Thirty cowboys, thirty throws, ain't nobody heard the horn So they named that bull the Mortgage, he's been takin' men since he was born Every man who climbs aboard, he puts 'em under 'fore they're five So I walked up to Rudy, said "Keep the purse, I want the prize If I ride him eight, he's mine, the papers and the brand" Rudy laughed so hard he spilled his beer across his hand Shook on it in front of every hat that's in the stands "Girl, he'll throw you to the moon." I said "Then watch me land" [Hook] Give me eight seconds, eight seconds, that's all Mama held eight years 'fore she watched the ranch fall Every cowboy in the chute say the girl gonna slip Eight seconds? Baby, I was born with a grip [Grito: the band stops dead on the gate, tex-mex female MC lets out one ringing grito, then the band slams back] Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay! Open the gate! [Verse 3: tex-mex female MC, counting hard on the kick] Gate swung wide, and the Mortgage went straight up toward the lights Came down spinnin' to the left, then whipped me hard to the right One, my hat is in the dirt, two, I taste blood on my lip Three, four, I can hear my mama sayin' "Mija, keep your grip" Five, six, half the stands are standin', Rudy's turnin' gray Seven, I can see the windmill and the gate they took away Eight, the horn, and I'm still up there, and the Mortgage hit the brakes Whole arena on its feet, every cowboy feelin' fake Now I own the Mortgage free and clear, grazin' by the shed First time a Garza paid one off, my mama cried and said Took eight years to lose it, took eight seconds to get paid Now I'm the only girl in Texas with the Mortgage in the shade [Hook] Give me eight seconds, eight seconds, that's all Mama held eight years 'fore she watched the ranch fall Every cowboy in the chute say the girl gonna slip Eight seconds? Baby, I was born with a grip [End]
