Top 10 Songs for Cinco De Mayo

Cinco de Mayo - the 5th of May, is the day of remembrance and celebration of when Mexico defeated the French with the help of the United States and in turn, Mexico's ongoing positive relationship with the United States. It is also the day to honor Mexico's heritage and pride. My choices for the top 10 songs for this holiday are below, as is a related explanation for each one.

The first song that came to my mind was Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. Translated to English it means, Living the Crazy Life. For some reason - this really was the first song that came to my mind. To a very upbeat tune he sings about a woman making him live a crazy (fun) life. I think it would be a fun song to play on Cinco de Mayo. It IS a day of celebrating the good life.

Bob Dylan wrote and sang a song titled, Isis, which was on his album called, Desire. This song has the specific lyrics, "On the fifth day of May..." which he sings as the day Isis got married. As he goes on to sing about riding a pony and the environment he describes, one imagines he's singing about the desert in the west, or Mexico.

What's Cinco de Mayo without a Mariachi performance? Placido Domingo sings the song titled, "Serenata Tapatia" accompanied by Mariachis, which generally means, A Song Sung and Played to a Mexican Woman. It's a song in Spanish about a beautiful woman. This song is guaranteed to add some heavy culture to the celebration.

The female singer, Liz Phair sang a song titled, "Cinco de Mayo" on her album called, Whip Smart. In the first stanza after she sings the words, Cinco de Mayo, she uses her own words as comparison to the United States helping Mexico during their war with the French and if it wasn't for the help they wouldn't have the good relationship with us as they do.

The band, Ween, sings a song titled, "Buenas Tardes Amigo," which means Good Afternoon Friend. In this song they sing about a man seeking another man for revenge, during Cinco de Mayo celebrations, who he made others believe killed his brother the year before, meanwhile he had killed him. The truth would never become known.

The band, War, has a song titled, "Cinco de Mayo" on their album called, Outlaw. In this song they sing about how a California boy meets a young Spanish girl in Los Angeles on the fifth of May, as a Cinco de Mayo celebration can be heard nearby.

If you're celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the south, Jimmy Buffett sings a song titled just that - well sort of. It's called, Cinco de Mayo in Memphis. In the song he sings about the senoritas and the Mariachis celebrating Cinco de Mayo on the Memphis streets with people from Memphis.

For those of you who like classical music, Gershwin did an orchestrated version of the song titled, La Cucaracha. If you like the trumpet, Louis Armstrong did a fantastic version of the same song also. It translates to, The Mexican Cockroach Song, but it's about a man who loves a woman, but the woman doesn't love him in return. The lyrics may sound sad, but the tune is fun and it's a great oldie.

The next 2 have a fantastic upbeat Mexican tune:

The Mexican Hat Dance. Various artists did their version of this song, even Charlie Brown and the Simpsons. I used to love this song. Every time I heard it, I always wanted to do the dance. It's a very easy dance to learn. You can choose anyone's version you like best. It's a guarantee to liven up a Cinco de Mayo celebration, or any celebration for that matter. The same goes for the next one.

La Bamba. Various artists have done a remake of this song, but I remember Trini Lopez's upbeat version of it. This song is guaranteed to make anyone start dancing, sing along and raise their spirits at a Cinco de Mayo celebration, or any other celebration.