Across the way from Union Station is our family's favourite stand,
You can take a seat, and eat and drink, hear the mariachi bands,
L.A.'s oldest road is a market place, run by charming and kind Latinos,
And you'll ignore faint scents of sewage once you've tasted them taquitos.
There was that day the world seemed brighter,
The hot, green sauce a little hotter,
You know you got a good batch when your eyes began to water,
And I believe God laughed along with our surprise at happy feet,
Papa stood straight up and did a little dance, there on old Olvera Street.
Couldn't help himself 'cause the day was warm, and the company was sweet,
And strangers laughed too, at the sight that made our day complete,
With his family gathered on Father's Day, his love ran wide and deep,
And Papa said so with his little dance down on old Olvera Street.
Above us loomed Avila Adobe, oldest house in Los Angeles,
Did I really see that second sight that nearly brought me to my knees?
Incarnation Abela,
Francisco The Rancher's grieving widow,
Watching Papa dance, I swear her sad ghost smiled, there in the upper story window.
She couldn't help herself 'cause the day was warm, and the sight was, oh, so sweet,
The crowd laughed too at the joyous soul who made our day complete,
With his family gathered on Father's Day, Dad's love ran wide and deep,
And he said so with his little dance down on old Olvera Street.
In a world that wounds us time to time, that glimpse of grace was so sublime,
And though the Angels now live in Anaheim, they flew in just for a peak at that miracle of a fandango down on old Olvera Street.
And Heaven knows I love that man,
He's more than half of who I am, it's the thing I'm beginning to understand
I wish my heart had moved my feet, and I had joined my Daddy when he danced that day down on old Olvera Street.
