In the ghettos of Mexico City
Beyond the rose-colored palace of Cortez
No one dared to walk in the dark streets
When the rain, it poured fury, oh Diez

By '86 the mines were exhausted
Their silver no longer did flow
Towns slumbered and slept in the 10th year
Of what was known as the Porfiriato

From the north came Francisco Madero
To oppose the dictatorship at last
He was jailed but escaped to San Antonio
But marched back with his men through Eagle Pass

Farewell, Francisco Madero
Your like again no longer will be seen
Gunned down by General Huerta
In nineteen hundred thirteen

Maderistas not winning elections
Against Diez took up their guns
In the year of our Lord nineteen ten
Mexico's revolution had begun

From the north came the bandit Poncho Villa
A warrior who knew how to fight
From the south, the fearless Zapata
To ride for the Army of Right
And the next year, in nineteen hundred eleven
Diez to France fled away
Maderistas they sought a constitution
For six long years and a day

Farewell, Francisco Madero
Your like again no longer will be seen
Gunned down by General Huerta
In nineteen hundred thirteen