About The Song
It’s hard to think of American rock’n’roller Ritchie Valens without remembering the tragic early death that befell him. He was taken at just 17 in the 1959 plane crash that also took Buddy Holly and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. But one of the happy moments in Ritchie’s all-too-brief career came on December 29, 1958, when he entered the Billboard Hot 100 with the classic “La Bamba.”
Valens, from Pacoima, California of Mexican heritage, was already on that countdown (at No.18 and climbing) with the other side of that memorable single release on the Del-Fi label, the dreamy ballad “Donna.” Indeed, Valens had only made his chart debut in the September with another of his uptempo landmarks, “Come On, Let’s Go,” which peaked at a surprisingly lowly No.42.
“Donna,” written by Havens about his high school sweetheart Donna Ludwig, went on to spend two weeks at No.2 during a 23-week stay on the American countdown. That final chart of the year was the first on which “La Bamba” was listed in its own right on the double A-side, debuting at No.81.
But while the Mexican folk song, so memorably adapted by the teenager, only managed a No.22 peak in its own right, it has become arguably the more widely remembered side. It later entered both the Grammy and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, and securing Havens’ reputation among the artists who popularised the Chicano strand of rock’n’roll.
There were minor chart versions of “La Bamba” by the Tokens in 1962 and Trini Lopez in 1966. But of course much of its latter-day reputation was thanks to the 1987 cover by Los Lobos, as the title song from the film that told Valens’ life story, starring Lou Diamond Phillips. The group’s remake topped the bestsellers in the US and the UK, as well as in many other European countries and in Australia.
As Martin Hawkins wrote in the History of Rock partwork in 1982: “Ritchie Valens was hardly old enough to have assimilated too many influences in his music – what you hear is what he was. Whether, had he lived, he would have gone on to be a superstar or a discarded hero, the fact is that he had already made his mark by February 1959.”
Video
Lyrics
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Y arriba, y arriba
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré
Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán
Soy capitán, soy capitán
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Y arriba, y arriba
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba