{"id":6355,"date":"2026-10-17T09:51:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T13:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=6355"},"modified":"2026-10-17T10:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T14:11:46","slug":"bamba-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UQr4_-y4_zY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For info on my November 2026 tour schedule, hitting Brooklyn NY, Bethlehem PA, Philly, State College, Pittsburgh, Marietta OH, and Cleveland, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/elijahwald.com\/concertdates.html\">https:\/\/elijahwald.com\/concertdates.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>So, to start off, there&#8217;s nothing original about doing &#8220;La Bamba&#8221; and &#8220;Twist and Shout&#8221; as a medley. The first version I&#8217;m aware of was recorded by Johnny Rivers more than sixty years ago, and a lot of people have done it since. I&#8217;d guess a lot of people did it before that, as well, because the Isley Brothers&#8217; built their hit directly on the Richie Valens version of the Mexican song.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;La Bamba&#8221; was first recorded by \u00c1lvaro Hern\u00e1ndez Ortiz &#8220;El Jarocho&#8221; in 1938, as a catchy\u00a0<em>son\u00a0<\/em><em>jaroch<\/em><em>o<\/em> (a traditional style from Veracruz), but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9zRIHqlycss\">his version<\/a> is quite different from the one Valens recorded in 1958. <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6356 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg?resize=241%2C244&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"241\" height=\"244\" \/>I first heard the song performed by a teenage Jos\u00e9 Feliciano on an LP of the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. He presumably picked it up from the Valens hit, but turned it into an incredible guitar showcase, with flamenco runs and all sorts of other trickeration, and I just learned that Vanguard Records, which had the record rights to all the Newport festival performances, made a unique choice to release it as a single.<\/p>\n<p>As for &#8220;Twist and Shout,&#8221; I just learned that it was originally recorded by a group called the Top Notes in 1961, co-written by Bert Berns, one of the underappreciated producer\/songwriters of the early soul period, with King Curtis on sax. It&#8217;s a perfectly good record, and not obviously related to &#8220;La Bamba,&#8221; but was shortly eclipsed by the Isleys&#8217; hit version, which recycled the &#8220;La Bamba&#8221; guitar riff as its dominant theme and became the model for all later versions, notably the Beatles&#8217; cover, which was an even bigger hit and is most familiar today.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6358 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2027\/10\/Isley-Brothers-Shout-e1791169792934.jpg?resize=232%2C231&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"231\" \/>The Isleys had kind of a prior claim to the title concept, since they had recorded their early masterpiece, &#8220;Shout!&#8221;\u00a0 before the twist craze, and Berns was presumably building on the combined appeal of those words. I&#8217;ve written about &#8220;Shout!&#8221; in <a href=\"https:\/\/elijahwald.com\/beatlespop.html\"><em>How the Beatles Destroyed Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and again in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/elijahwald.com\/rocknrollvsi.html\"><em>Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll: A Very Short Introduction<\/em><\/a>, because it was the ultimate example of Black church music being directly adapted as a dance hit, down to the name. (In the church, to &#8220;shout&#8221; is to be possessed by the spirit to the point of losing mental and physical control.) It was also an interesting example of a record that did not become a significant hit, but was picked up as a ubiquitous live number. When I asked Dale Hawkins, of &#8220;Suzie Q&#8221; fame, what he was playing in the early 1960s when he added horns and fronted a rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll dance band, his laconic response was, &#8220;Back then if you didn\u2019t play &#8216;Shout&#8217; you might just as well stay home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Which said, I got &#8220;Twist and Shout&#8221; from the Beatles, and only discovered the Isleys&#8217; version many years later. As I recall, it&#8217;s another song I learned by osmosis, and I don&#8217;t ever remember playing it until I was sitting in a park in Oaxaca one evening with my guitar and some young guys came up and asked me to play. I remember they requested &#8220;Jailhouse Rock,&#8221; which was a big hit in Mexico in a Spanish-language version by Los Teen Tops, and in search of another song that would combine Spanish with rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll I came up with this medley. I honestly think I hadn&#8217;t heard the Johnny Rivers record and it was an independent, though obvious, invention&#8230; but I could be wrong, because I did acquire his<em> Golden Hits <\/em>LP around that time, and this is on it.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6198 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RockVSIcover-e1784990381494.jpg?resize=148%2C233&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"148\" height=\"233\" \/>Be that as it may&#8230; I don&#8217;t recall ever playing it again until recently, when the\u00a0<em>Very <\/em><em>Short Introduction<\/em> book got me on a rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll kick, and in particular a Latin-rhythm-flavored rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll kick &#8212; other examples in the Songobiography include &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/save-the-last-dance\/\">Save the Last Dance for Me<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/under-the-boardwalk\/\">Under the Boardwalk<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/little-darlin\/\">Little Darlin&#8217;<\/a>,&#8221; and Buddy Holly&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/everyday\/\">Everyday<\/a>&#8221; &#8212;\u00a0 so this fits right in, and I worked out an arrangement I like, and here it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For info on my November 2026 tour schedule, hitting Brooklyn NY, Bethlehem PA, Philly, State College, Pittsburgh, Marietta OH, and Cleveland, go to https:\/\/elijahwald.com\/concertdates.html So, to start off, there&#8217;s nothing original about doing &#8220;La Bamba&#8221; and &#8220;Twist and Shout&#8221; as a medley. The first version I&#8217;m aware of was recorded by Johnny Rivers more than &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">La Bamba\/Twist and Shout<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>La Bamba\/Twist and Shout - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A medley of two Latin-flavored rock &#039;n&#039; roll hits from circa 1960 with credits to Jose Feliciano, the Isley Brothers, and Johnny Rivers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A medley of two Latin-flavored rock &#039;n&#039; roll hits from circa 1960 with credits to Jose Feliciano, the Isley Brothers, and Johnny Rivers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-17T13:51:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-17T14:11:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"La Bamba\\\/Twist and Shout\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-17T13:51:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-17T14:11:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":721,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/\",\"name\":\"La Bamba\\\/Twist and Shout - Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-17T13:51:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-17T14:11:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"A medley of two Latin-flavored rock 'n' roll hits from circa 1960 with credits to Jose Feliciano, the Isley Brothers, and Johnny Rivers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg?fit=400%2C405&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg?fit=400%2C405&ssl=1\",\"width\":400,\"height\":405},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/bamba-twist\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"La Bamba\\\/Twist and Shout\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"description\":\"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\",\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"width\":70,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Elijah Wald\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout - Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"A medley of two Latin-flavored rock 'n' roll hits from circa 1960 with credits to Jose Feliciano, the Isley Brothers, and Johnny Rivers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout - Old Friends: A Songobiography","og_description":"A medley of two Latin-flavored rock 'n' roll hits from circa 1960 with credits to Jose Feliciano, the Isley Brothers, and Johnny Rivers.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/","og_site_name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","article_published_time":"2026-10-17T13:51:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-17T14:11:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Elijah Wald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ElijahWald","twitter_site":"@ElijahWald","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elijah Wald","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/"},"author":{"name":"Elijah Wald","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"headline":"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout","datePublished":"2026-10-17T13:51:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-17T14:11:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/"},"wordCount":721,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/","name":"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout - Old Friends: A Songobiography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-17T13:51:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-17T14:11:46+00:00","description":"A medley of two Latin-flavored rock 'n' roll hits from circa 1960 with credits to Jose Feliciano, the Isley Brothers, and Johnny Rivers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg?fit=400%2C405&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Jose-Feliciano-La-Bamba-e1791167436411.jpg?fit=400%2C405&ssl=1","width":400,"height":405},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/bamba-twist\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"La Bamba\/Twist and Shout"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/","name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9","name":"Elijah Wald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","width":70,"height":85,"caption":"Elijah Wald"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1"}}]}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5528,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/like-a-rolling-stone\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":0},"title":"Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"December 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Shake it up, Bobby! Twist and shout! The early 1960s brought a spate of songs based on the chord pattern of \"La Bamba,\" which had hit big for Ritchie Valens in 1958. The Isley Brothers produced the most obvious reworking with \"Twist and Shout,\" which was shortly covered by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Melody-Maker-Beatles-Say-Dylan-shows-the-way.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4736,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/contrabando-y-traicion\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":1},"title":"Contrabando y traicion (Los Tigres del Norte)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"October 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/t-RGZEh1RsE I first heard Los Tigres del Norte while hitchhiking around Mexico in 1986. I was sitting in a park in Oaxaca one evening, playing guitar and waiting for something to happen, and some young guys came over and requested \"Rock de la c\u00e1rcel\" (Jailhouse Rock), so I played that,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Emilio-Varela-vs-Camelia-La-Texana.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":953,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/walk-right-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":2},"title":"Walk Right In (Rooftop Singers\/Jose Feliciano)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"April 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A number one hit from the pop-folk craze, owing more to the Rooftop Singers than to Cannon's Jug Stompers, with a tip of the hat to Jos\u00e9 Feliciano.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"greatest folksingers of the sixties","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/greatest-folksingers-of-the-sixties-300x293.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6210,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/little-darlin\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":3},"title":"Little Darlin&#8217; (Latin rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"August 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the less-explored byways of rock 'n' roll history is the influence of \"Latin\" or Caribbean rhythms, styles, and instrumentation. I have a section on this in my new book, Rock 'n' Roll: A Very Short Introduction, including such relatively familiar touchstones as \"La Bamba\" (which I will post\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RockVSIcover-e1784990381494.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6334,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/everyday\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":4},"title":"Everyday (Buddy Holly)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"October 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I've known Buddy Holly's big hits since back when I started buying \"oldies\" rock 'n' roll sets in my early teens, and can still sing \"That'll Be the Day,\" \"Peggy Sue,\" and \"Oh, Boy!\" I think I even performed them occasionally when I was busking the cafe terraces in Antwerp,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/everyday\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Buddy-Holly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6256,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/kansas-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":6355,"position":5},"title":"Kansas City (K.C. Loving &#8211; Leiber &#038; Stoller)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"September 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Kansas City\" was one of the first songs to be recorded from the dynamite rock 'n' roll songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They met in Los Angeles while Jerry was still in high school and Mike just out, and started by writing blues. Their first hit was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2027\/08\/Leiber-and-Stoller.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6355"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6394,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions\/6394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}