La golondrina


"La golondrina" is a song written in 1862 by Mexican physician Narciso Serradell Sevilla, who at the time was exiled to France due to the French intervention in Mexico.
The lyrics come from a poem written in Arabic by the last Abencerrages king of Granada, Aben Humeya, in a translation by Niceto de Zamacois, which Serradell found in a magazine used as packing material. They use the image of a migrating swallow to evoke sentiments of longing for the homeland. It became the signature song of the exiled and expatriate Mexicans.

Spanish recordings

The song was notably recorded by Señor Francisco in 1906. In 1948, Gene Autry sang the song in his Cinecolor film The Big Sombrero. Other recorded versions include:

She Wears My Ring

Felice & Boudleaux Bryant wrote lyrics in English, as "She Wears My Ring", which was first recorded by Jimmy Sweeney in 1960. Other notable cover versions are by:

Solomon King recording

Solomon King recorded the song in 1968 and it became an instant international hit.

Recordings in other languages

The song, recorded in German by 13-year-old Heintje as "Du sollst nicht weinen", became a number-one hit in August 1968 in West Germany.

Anita Hegerland version

In June 1970, the 9-year-old Norwegian singer Anita Hegerland became a famed child singer with the Swedish-language recording "Mitt sommarlov" that topped the Swedish best selling chart Kvällstoppen for five weeks and Svensktoppen for seven weeks as well as the Norwegian singles chart for three weeks. At age 10, she became Norway's first artist to sell over a million copies and she now is one of the best-selling solo singers in Norway, with sales of more than 7 million albums and singles. Hegerland's songs have been released on nearly 30 million albums worldwide, most of which are with Roy Black and Mike Oldfield.

In popular culture