The 10 Best Songs About the Mexican Revolution - Latino USA (2023)

My manners - we were not introduced properly!

My name isGustavo Arellano, and if you've heard of me, it's probably because I was, take your pick, the editor ofweekly CO/He has the syndicated column Ask a Mexican!/He wrote the bookTaco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America/ You know my geeky voice because I've been listening to NPR for the last 14 years.

But before that I was a music critic. I need to cover the end of the rock.in SpanishThe glory days of - Heck, I remember when the new act in town was Kinky, whose song you hear in commercials all the time. But I also saw Vicente Fernández, Los Tigres del Norte, cry at the old Hollywood House of Blues, La Santa Cecilia, when they were my house band for a radio show. I even saw Morrissey play a show on an Indian reservation in Yuma a few weeks before he opened for the Jaguars. (And yes, Morrissey'shad some serious problems lately.)

Music continues to be one of my passions, so much so that at all my shows I make time to write playlists and essays about Mexican music.weekly CO. The American public remains woefully ignorant of thisour songas well as mariachi hats andnarcocorridos, so I tried to dig into groups, genres and themes because someone had to. Especially the old stuff: so little has been written about old stars like Toña la Negra, Pedro Infante and Trio Calaveras in English that I'm surprised no one bothered before.

And so I write.

when i was leavingweekly CO, milesboricua Julio Ricardo Varelakindly invited me to submit ideas forlatin united states, I suggested that I do my musical rehearsals. She happily accepted, so this is the fourth of five.EscucharI signed up. I look forward to coming back next year, so if you like what you've heard and read so far, please share my lists far and wide!

But now this week's theme: Songs of the Mexican Revolution and, yes, TODAY, November 20.EsoJubilee when it all started in 1910This genre is now only regularly heard live on the old Mexican music station or whenever the mariachis perform, and that's a shame. The catastrophic event is when thelieit really took shape as a popular song, and its authors created vivid epics that taught history, created legends, and most importantly, had rhythms that made them whisper more than a century after the events described. Many of the big names - Antonio Aguilar, Los Alegres de Terán and even Chalino Sánchez - have recorded entire albums ofvillista is running. When was the last time you sang a song about World War I? Do you know any other songs besides "Over There" and "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)"?

Exactly.music, master!

"Juan Galo"

Most of the songs are offdie revolutionListWomenlittle more than virgin goddesses awaiting the return of their husbands - even "La Adelita", which became the nickname of our struggleWomen, is sung from the perspective of a soldier praising the value of his love. Then there's this postwar composition of a myth.to the soldiershe was so badcucuyAgainfederal. Yes, Juana only acted for the death of her beloved Chon de ella, but what a warrior! “By attributing unlimited power to Juana”, wrote María Herrera-Sobek in her magisterial 1990 book.The Mexican Corrido: A Feminist Analysis,“The song presents her as a female Hercules who is invincible and whose enemies, even the bravest, tremble at her daring.” Sung here by the underrated Lucha Moreno.

"Run for Pancho Villa"

BisEswas released, no historical figure has written more songs in Mexican music about it than Pancho Villa. And none is better than this relatively latelieonethe north centaur, a version of the more popular "23. February". how i wrotea long time ago: “This song satirizes the Punitive Expedition, the 1916 persecution of Pancho Villa by General John Pershing that led to itanything. Leaning on a cheerful accordion, the Zaizar brothers sing thousands of songsgabacho"faces of shame" as they roamed northern Mexico with planes and modern weaponry in a vain search for the original Dirty Mexican. Highlight of the song: When Villa flies over the Americans and wavesadoption. Complete with the sounds of the old biplanes!”

"Carabiner 30-30"

The power of the song's lyrics – "If they ask for my blood, I'll give my blood/For our nation's people" – and their meaning (a nickname for a Winchester Model 1894 lever-action rifle) almost fool you. I thought this was written by a soldier straight from the battlefield. But it was actually from the 1949 movie.Not north!Still, the song depicts such a powerful scene of righteous rebellion that groups across Latin America have recorded it, including this version by Chilean folk group Quilapayún from the late 1960s.

"Seven Leagues"

oranchothe legend Aguilar killed him in this ode to Pancho Villa's horse (Sete Léguas, named for the distance it is said to gallop in one day) because it combined Aguilar's two great loves: history and horses. Curiously, the song does not say much about the horse, other than that it was Villa's favorite horse and that it "stopped and neighed" when he heard the train whistle announcing the return of his master. But "Siete Leguas" is still a beautiful song... and now the name of a bad tequila. This one hurts.

"Prison of the Canaanites"

To belieIt is not directly about the Mexican Revolution, but about a 1906 mining strike in the city of Sonora in which an American force crossed the border to kill Mexicans on their own land. This fact became one of the crimes sanctioned by the government of Porfirio Díaz that led to the Mexican Revolution and was sung by allranchomiNortesinger ever since. And then there's this version of Los Caminantes, which makes it livelier than usual but retains the song's stern challenge, as it so matter-of-factly describes the protagonist's situation in prison. True story: I once played this version on my iPod for Zach de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine in downtown SanTana to teach him about his Mexican roots.

"Benjamín Argumedo"

Few songs from the Mexican Revolution still in circulation praise someone on the side of the Mexican government, but this song about one of Villa's greatest foils is a notable exception. EITHERliehe gives him nothing but respect, even allowing him to say, "Listen to me, my general / I was a brave man too / I want you to execute me / I want you to execute me / in front of the public." The most famous version is by Antonio Aguilar, but this earlier version contains almost all the lyrics.

"Levit Soldier"

Almost all famous songs come from the Mexican Revolutionthe North, The heart oflie. This track is a later addition, but also a rarity: athey are huastecos, a form known for its falsetto singing, crazy fiddle, and ABBA text structure. "Soldier of Levite" ("Soldier in Overcoat") recounts the agony of a decrepit cavalryman being led into battle:graciasto a beautiful wife and widow. But his sad lines—"He who is born in disgrace / begins from the cradle / to live like a martyr"—embedded themselves in the Mexican psyche, gaining prominence in José Montoya's famous 1970 poem about a Korean War veteran. , "The Louies". " ".

"Four Broken Bullets"

This isn't one of José Alfredo Jiménez's most famous songs, which means it's a lesser masterpiece: his "Y tu pájaro puede cantar" if you will. "Four Shots Were Fired / At Two AM" is the dramatic opening as the protagonist kills his wife's lover in his arms. He joins the revolution to escape the law, but shortly after the mariachi horns play a toques to foretell his fate, he tells his wife: "I owe you in life / be sentenced to death." Again: This is one of the songs from the third line of José Alfredo. I can't wait to highlight the good things he has!

"Gabino-Barreras"

This is a strange entry in the Revolution pantheon of favourites, as it is the title of two distinctly different games.runroughly the same mythical figure. The most famous version by Antonio Aguilar, who directed a film of the same name and three sequels, stars him as a drunken womanizer who was murdered by a man.Morena. This shot by actor Ignacio López Tarso shows Gabino as a general of the revolution who was assassinated in the line of duty for him. The only similarities between the two: He was a"Southern Indians"who stepped on thorny plants and felt nothing, was assassinated with 18 shots from a Mauser revolver and "with a bottlebrandy/The Scream 'It's lebe Zapata!‚“

"Durango Bullfight"

If that sounds a bit like "Siete Leguas", it's because the author is the same: Graciela "La Bandida" Olmos, who could writethe male is runningas well as anymanand I personally met Villa."It started in Durango"his exuberant anthem begins and is covered several times. But the most famous version comes from Miguel Aceves Mejía, "El Rey del Falseto," who lets his warm voice flow in lyrics that chronicle Villa's career: a start as a bandit, a rise to the top as a boastful leader, "I know not to worry" and his subsequent death.

"Shoe Blood"

There are surprisingly few popular songs about Emiliano Zapata; in fact, the most prominent mention of the general is in "Gabino Barrera". But as proof that the revolution continues to resonate more than a century later, comes this song by Rage Against the Machine from the album Vive y Raro, made in honor of the Zapatistas of Chiapas. “Zapata's blood/ Was not shed in vain,” shouts frontman Zach de la Rocha. "So now the poorest are waging / war / to get his name back." He then slows down winger Gil-Scott Herron.It's lebe Zapata!