Green Grow the Lilacs . TEX RITTER

[Jorge1509]

Nice! Green Grows !! GRINGOS !



[oldfogiebp]

I read that Green Grow the Lilacs might be the most popular song, that almost everyone was singing it, including the Texas cowboys in Mexico. Which sounds logical for the word Gringo. However peregringo sounds right also. We may never know, but I do know I like the song by Tex.

[luchodel9]

GRINGOOOOOO

[hardhand14]

Gringo as a Spanish word for foreigner predates the war of 1846 by almost a hundred years. The first recorded instance of the word appears in 1786 in Spain.

The two most likely origins of "gringo" are either that it's a variant of "Griego" Greek i.e. a foreigner who couldn't speak Spanish very well or that it comes from "peregringo" a traveller.

Good version of the song though

[hardhand14]

Gringo as a Spanish word for foreigner predates the war of 1846 by almost a hundred years. The first recorded instance of the word appears in 1786 in Spain.

The two most likely origins of "gringo" are either that it's a variant of "Griego" i.e. a foreigner who couldn't speak Spanish very well or that it comes from "peregringo" a traveller.

Good version of the song though

[katarina661]

thanks. my granny used to sing this song at family get togethers in a wee but and ben in a scottish island.

[leeperryismerry]

I hate country apart from Johnny Cash

but this is pretty good

[matthew22sow]

i've heard this was a song the Irish immigrants sang

[pro3tlb]

This song was sung around the campfires during the Civil War.

[1944jhd]

During the Mexican American War, the American troops serving were of Irish descent. It is said that they sang this song as they marched through the Mexican towns. The word 'GRINGO" is said to have originated from the misunderstanding of this song. One of the side affects of this war was that many of these Gringos related to the Mexican cause and married Catholic Mexican girls. They remained in Mexico and are found in large numbers in many Mexican towns.

[noblefailure]

@1944jhd That story is fun to tell but is entirely fiction, the term "Gringo" is a corruption of the Spanish word "Griego" (meaning "Greek") which was in former times a slang pejorative for any foreigner, the term has been used through out Latin America with different connotations since well before the Mexican-American War.

[piratekid1]

@noblefailure oh really? I don't think so, there's a enormous difference in pronunciation between "gringo" and "griego"...just saying :) wikipedia must be terribly wrong (I'm mexican, I know what am I talking about)

[noblefailure]

@piratekid1 Puede seguir pensando lo que Ud. quiere pensar; pero la palabra "gringo" no tiene nada que ver con esta cancion, ni con cualquier de los otros mitos del origen de esta palabra, la palabra "gringo" existe en cada pais Latinoamericano y tambien en Espana. El hecho que Ud. es Mejicano no significa que sabe mas que los expertos en la historia. Los historiadores del idioma Espanol estan de acuerdo sobre este asunto.

[juankurosaki]

@noblefailure Es mexicano no mejicano :/ Gracias

[noblefailure]

@juankurosaki Ambos formas son correctas. En Espana y otros lugares es normal usar la forma "Mejico," por ejemplo el himno espanol del estado New Mexico es "Asi Es Nuevo Mejico." Gracias a Ud.

[noblefailure]

@1944jhd And as far as the Cowboy and Vaquero, yes there is definitely some shared heritage, but you have greatly exaggerated it. And the elements you mention are actually Spanish, not Mexican. To say, as you put it, that "Country Western culture is Mexican culture writ large" is inaccurate, American Western culture actually owes more to cattle raising traditions of the Scots and Borders English, of course enriched by Spanish elements as well.

[TheTexn]

if you were a cow being driven to Ogallala on the Great Western Trail would you be afraid at night or would this song being sung to you reassure you and keep you contented ?

[1944jhd]

@TheTexn - That's why the vaqueros wore spurs. To reassure the cattle that they were being looked after. Being kept safe on their way to our tables. The Texas cowboy is nothing more than the Tejano Vaquero. All of Country Western culture is Mexican culture writ large. So enjoy your barbacoa, or Bar b Que.

[puppyfarmersgotohell]

Aww this was my dads favourite too. Brings back memories.

[ervin6]

Greatstuff Mrdee, Do You have 'Sold down the River' by Tex?

[rockgor]

My favorite recording of this song. Tex used to

be a cowboy movie star. Wonder if his son

(John) could sing?

Tx for the nostalgic post.

[missyoumama]

I was adopted by family of my natural mother.I remember vividly her rocking me and singing this song to me when she would come to see me before she died when I was three needless to say this song means the world to me.

[marindah1]

this is a song that was grandmas fav. soon it became mine. i really miss grandma when i hear this!!!!!!!

[marvinrockabilly]

my kind of music

very good down to earth classic country

song

[sonshine04086]

My mother had this on a record

when I was just a kid. Boy doesn't

time go so fast .

[antiyankees666]

for this song the mexicans call "gringo" (green grow) to the north american people...

[lamouchemorte]

great song

[mrdee11091]

thanks for the comment

[Otispuss2]

This song was one of the first songs I ever heard in my life - it was on the back of The Ballad of Davy Crockett. I haven't heard this in years, and now I know more about its history. What memories - thank you so much for posting.

[yonnamaria]

WOW!! I thought I was the only person who remembered this as the flip side of the Ballard Of Davy Crocket. Was that not a record got with labels or boxtops from Peter Pan Peanut Butter? I woule love to find a copy of that record today. Thanks for the memories.

[tuktukskagal]

Thanx for putting up this terrific song.

[metalmarkholland]

Thanks Tuks

[tuktukskagal]

I had been looking for this for ages.

[metalmarkholland]

Well, maybe 50 years old this?

[OtisJackSeals]

Does anyone out there have "get off of my horse" I think it was done by Tex Ritter and Red Foley. Funny, Funny song.

[uglymoon78]

Johnny Cash did an awesome version of this, too.

[FlowtnWitWalden]

Absolutely. Roy Rogers sings songs of western lore in which he tells tale of how "gringo" became mexican slang for the cowboys to the north, who commonly sung this song to quiet their cattle. Yeah, them ruff n ready cowfolk actually sung lullabies to their cattle to calm their nerves.

[sommergold2]

very interesting, FlowtnWitWalden!

I buy my meat at a small butchery who gets their animals from an organic farmer - "bio" in German - who actually plays classical music like Bach and Mozart to the piggies, and they LIKE it! (not Beethoven, though, as he is too loud). And the meat - believe it or not - actually tastes better from happy animals.

So I absolutely believe the lore about the Cowboys singing lullabies to their cattle.

Greetings from Germany,

Rolf

[grandrascal]

They actually sang to the cattle at night so the cattle would recognize them as a person. That way the cattle didn't hear something coming towards them in the dark and mistake a cowboy for a mountain lion and start a stampede.

[sommergold2]

sounds logical.

Rolf

[TheTexn]

@grandrascal Many cows still consider this there favoritist song. ( cow talk )

[BigJordan58]

From the lyrics of such a song one day appeared the mexican slang 'gringo'to designate ' a foreigner' or american , at he time of Francisco 'Pancho' Villa, in 1916. The words sounded for the Spanish speakers something like 'gringo-dee-likes...'.So, Gringo was then the guy whose language was the same as the one who spoke/sang like the 'Gringo-dee-likes' (Green Grow the Lilacs).

BigJordan58

[piratekid1]

@BigJordan58 well, I'm a spanish speaker and for me it sounds like "green grows the lilacs", yet for some people it sounds like  "grin grous de lailacs"(spanish pronunciation) or "grin grows dee lie-lacks (north-american pronunciation), by the way "gringo" is only for people from the USA, foreigners are just "extranjeros"(foreigners)....j­ust sayin' :)