Well, they called it a Country song. I guess it was, at least before Freddie Fender got ahold of it. Then it became another country song. It had been recorded by a bunch of people, including Jerry Lee Lewis, but no one remembers that now.
The Freddie Fender version was a throwaway afterthought. A record producer wanted a version with Spanish lyrics mixed in, so he hired Freddie to sing it. “I was glad to get it over with and I thought that would be the last of it”. It made it to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, and was the fourth most popular song of the year. After that, pretty much no one knew Freddie had ever sung anything else. The music business is like that sometimes.
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I remember that song. But not that rendition. By 1975, I was no longer listening to any Country, and what I’d heard before that came from either the AM radio in a ’64 Impala, or Hee-Haw. My best guess for who I heard it from is Faron Young.
I do know of Freddy Fender, but not why. I guess he didn’t make as big an impression on me as Ritche Blackmore.
Hi Jed- Faron Young! Awesome Here he is on an offbrand TV hayride. Righteous proto-Nudie suit there.
I find that while I don’t actively seek out Faron Young, I do enjoy listening when the name comes up. I’m not particulary engaged in expanding my music collection at the moment, though.
I had to look up Nudie Suit, since the initial implications of that don’t jive with old Country. Makes me think of Little Jimmy Dickens, who needed all the help he could get, I think. And Liberace. And Elton John – oh, there’s a tie-in to the Farfisa organ, I think. I know I’ve encountered that too, though I’m hard pressed to name the artist with certainty. Wiki gives me some other names, and that’s more of a rabbit hole than I care to follow today. Now I have a really dumb Venn diagram in my head. I think I prefer the Nudie suit to today’s pop fashion, which seems to be inspired by leftovers from a homeless encampment.
When I think of Freddie Fender, I think of the Texas Tornados, a South Texas super group: Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez, & Freddie.
Texas Tornados – “(Hey Baby) Que Paso”
Texas Tornados Is Anybody Going To San Antone
Hi Gringo- The absolute high water mark of the Farfisa organ.
A true South Texas product and legend in the Tejano vein. Born Baldemar Huerta …. Home town of San Benito down in ‘The Valley’ near Harlingen and Matamoros….not far from our best beach at South Padre Island. Country Music Hall of Fame. I believe one of his songs was a standby for the time-outs and halftimes at the San Antonio Spurs games …. karaoke with 15000 at once. A great transition performer of those days …..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Fender
https://globalmusicvibe.com/songs/freddy-fender-greatest-hits/
Before the Next Teardrop Falls ….. https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=freddy%20fender&mid=5F98BED048AC739A80885F98BED048AC739A8088&ajaxhist=0
The Texas Tornados was formed in the early 90’s. Doug Sahm found Freddy Fender working as a mechanic at a garage in Corpus Christi, and that spurred the beginnings of the Tornados. I saw them in 1990, 1991, or so, at the Cactus Cafe on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. They were a mix of AM South Texas rock, country, 50’s rock, norteno, and some traditional Mexican music thrown in. An amazing eclectic mix of genres making up something completely unique. They always sang Before the Next Teardrop Falls, and Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.
Hi Chad- Thanks for reading and commenting at Sippican Cottage.