"Allá en el Rancho Grande" is a Mexican song. It was written in the 1920s for a musical theatrical work, but now is most commonly associated with the eponymous 1936 Mexican motion picture ''

Allá en el Rancho Grande Allá is a rock band formed by three young Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) from Chicago: Jorge Ledezma (guitars, keyboards, vibraphone, composer & producer), his brother Angel Ledezma (drums) and Lupe Martinez (vocals, guitar and keyboards). As inspir ...

'', in which it was sung by renowned actor and singer Tito Guízar and with

mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...

s. Bing Crosby recorded the song on April 3, 1939 as "El Rancho Grande" and it reached the No. 6 spot in the charts during a ten-week stay in 1939. Crosby recorded the song again in 1954 for the album '' Bing: A Musical Autobiography''. The song was featured in the film '' Mexicali Rose'' (1939) starring

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

. Autry recorded it on March 12, 1940, and it was released on

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pi ...

No. 5513 on August 20, 1940, peaking at no. 11. Others to record the song are

Al Bowlly Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1899 – 17 April 1941) was a South African-British vocalist, crooner, and dance band guitarist who was Britain's most popular singer for most of the 1930s. He recorded upwards of 1,000 songs that were listened ...

(as "Give Me My Ranch"),

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

(on his '' Bravo! Brubeck!'' album) and

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

(on his '' Dino Latino'' album). In 1958 the song was covered by

Rex Allen Rex Elvie Allen Sr. (December 31, 1920 – December 17, 1999), known as "The Arizona Cowboy", was an American film and television actor, singer and songwriter; he was also the narrator of many Disney nature and Western productions. For his cont ...

on his album ''Mister Cowboy'' on the Decca record label. Elvis Presley sang the song when playing around at the rehearsals for the documentary film '' That's the Way It Is'' (on Wednesday, July 15, 1970). His performance was recorded and, in 1995, released by BMG on the box set '' Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters''.

Musical style

The song is a typical

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in the vast majority of regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional fo ...

, with mariachi choruses and lyrics dealing with life in a traditional Mexican ranch. The American arrangement of the song was copyrighted as a "

rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba ...

", a term largely used in the US to denote Americanized Afro-Cuban and Latin ballroom music According to the book ''The Course of Mexican Music'',

Track listing of Presley CD

''Elvis la canta a Mexico "Allá en el Rancho Grande"'' (promo CD, 1998, BMG Entertainment Mexico, S.A. De C.V.) # "Allá en el Rancho Grande" # "Guadalajara" # "México"

References

Works cited * *

External links

Elvis Presley – Elvis La Canta A Mexico "Allá En El Rancho Grande"
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alla en el Rancho Grande (song) Ranchera songs 1920s songs 1940 singles Elvis Presley songs Al Bowlly songs