Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
So there I was, surfing around what dubya lovingly calls the innernets, looking for polka arrangements, when I come across a score for Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. I have a flashback to my youth, watching Johnny Carson one night, with guest Freddy Fender. Freddy had a flowery Mexicali shirt on, and his hair was a sort-of Afro number and he had a little Mexican guitar, and he did this cheeze-pop hit, and well, it was pretty bad.
Naturally, I immediately start learning the song on my button accordion. After all, I'm sure the way Freddy would have preferred to record it would have been with Flaco Jimenez laying out killer button-box runs behind the vocals. Later, Freddy went back to his roots and joined Doug Sahm, Auggie Meyers and Flaco to form the Tex-Mex supergroup, Texas Tornados. If you haven't heard these guys together, check out their first album, which is fantastic. I also love their version of Guacamole - what a great song. Anyway, the song sounds great on the button-box. Here's to Freddy!
4 comments:
I saw that episode of the Tonight Show. My mother was, and probably still is, a major Freddy Fender fan. Man, that brought back the memories. Didn't he do jail time?
If not, he should have done jail time for recording 'Feelings'.
I always, liked Freddy, didn't know what happened to hem. I'll have to check out the TT's
The Texas Tornados had a good run of albums - it ended with Doug Sahm's death in his mid-fifties. The first album is a must own in my books....great songs, a Tex-Mex classic.
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