Sendero Luminoso Verdadero

Sendero Luminoso Verdadero
Album	Beautiful Rat Sunset
Released	1994
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:08
Previous Track	"Song for Cleomenes"
Next Track	"Song for Mark and Joel"

Sendero Luminoso Verdadero is the fourth song on the EP Beautiful Rat Sunset.

Lyrics

(As they age, men encounter the 6th fear - loss of virility.
Just look him straight in the eye, invade his space by standing a little closer than normal.)
By 8:30 a.m. the sun was so hot that it made me remember
And I pulled on the jacket with the bars on the pocket and I
Stood in front of the window
And the skin on my face has a memory all its own
And it drinks in the pure heat, real slow
I remember Lima, I remember the good life
I remember Lima, I remember the good life

And the window was ten feet high and three feet wide
And sunbeams bounce off the dark water 
And come through the clear glass, magnified
Standing here in the house on Pacific Coast Highway
Given to me by a friend whose name is no longer important
My conscience is clean
And the feeling of power like thick red wine
And it's 09:05 military time
I remember Lima, I remember the good life
I remember Lima, I remember the good life
I remember Lima, I remember the good life
I remember Lima, I remember the good life

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• [answering "Have you ever written a song about a pathetic failing dictator?"] "also 'sendero luminoso verdadero' from beautiful rat sunset, about a military general in exile" -- John's Twitter

Things Referenced in this Song

• Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") is a militant Peruvian communist group that followed the Maoist strategy of building support in the countryside and engaging in guerilla warfare against the government in order to bring about a communist revolution. Classified as a terrorist organization, the group engaged in guerilla attacks, sabotage, and assassinations beginning in 1980. Its activity has declined since the capture of its leader Abimael Gúzman in 1992.
• In Spanish, the adjective verdadero means "real" or "true", in the sense that something is "the real deal", e.g. "a true hero".
• Lima is the capital and largest city of Peru.