Gene Autry - Mexicali Rose

Gene Autry was the most. It may sound like a joke - Go and have a look in my bedroom, It's covered with Gene Autry posters. He was my first musical influence.

- Ringo Starr

Roy Rogers wasn't the first of the singing cowboys, or the biggest. Gene Autry was in a league of his own: he had the first album ever certified gold, he sold over 100 Million albums, he was in more than fifty Hollywood films, and is the only person with five stars on the Walk Of Fame (one each for Motion Pictures, Radio, Recording, Television, and Live Theater). And along the way he had time to be Vice President of the American League and owner of the California Angels.

As Angels Manager Gene Mauch said to the team in one of his famous pep talks, You have to bear in mind that Mr. Autry's favorite horse was named Champion. He ain't ever had one called Runner Up.

All this, and he gave up his most productive years - at the height of his fame - to fly C-47 Gooney Birds over "The Hump" to China in World War II. Autry's service actually gave Roy Rogers his big break, as the studios were fresh out of singing cowboys.

That's a long way from Tioga, Texas. It was his music that got him started, first at local dances and then - after meeting Will Rogers - on the radio. That led to records, and his 1931 breakout hit Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine. Then it was no looking back.

One thing that touched me was reading of his long-term working relationship with Smiley Burnette, a songwriter from the early days. Autry brought him to Hollywood, where he had a long career, first as Autry's (and later Roy Rogers') sidekick and later in a bunch of other roles (including Petticoat Junction and Green Acres). That's a loyalty that you don't see today, and didn't much back then, either.

Strangely, he died on October 2, 1998 - three months after Roy Rogers.



Mexicali Rose (Songwriter: Jack Tenney, Helen Stone)

Mexicali rose, stop crying
I'll come back to you some sunny day
Every night you know that I'll be pining
Every hour of year while you're away.

Dry those big brown eyes and smile dear
Banish all those tears and please don't cry
Kiss me once again and hold me
Mexico rose, goodbye.

Mexicali rose, I'm leaving, don't feel blue
Mexicali rose, stop grieving, I love you
When the dove of love is winging through the blue
All the castles you've been building will come true.

Mexicali rose, stop crying
I'll come back to you some sunny day
Every night you know that I'll be pining
Every hour of year while you're away.

Dry those big brown eyes and smile dear
Banish all those tears and please don't cry
Kiss me once again and hold me
Mexico rose, goodbye...