Teardrops Fall for Freddy Fender

San Antonio radio played several tunes by Freddy Fender on October 14, 2006. I took note because I had my eye on a greatest hits compilation at a local store.

It rained off and on all day – typical for autumn in South Texas.

Later, I found myself at the International Accordion Festival in La Villita. People danced in the drizzle. The dampness only seemed to whet the appetite of the audience for more.

Flaco Jimenez stopped his set to inform the crowd that a fellow band member of the Texas Tornadoes had died that day.

“Freddy Fender, Freddy Fender,” the audience chanted, as if they were rooting for a win at a Spurs Game.

As if on cue, a gust of wind dumped the canopy of accumulated rainwater in front of the audience.

My dancing partner quipped, “The Next Teardrop Falls.”

We smiled in our sadness. “A Man Can Cry.”

The band broke into the song, “Who Were You Thinking Of?”

We were thinking of Baldemar Garza Huerta, the Bebop Kid from the Rio Grande Valley. Although born in San Benito, all of Texas claimed him as their own.

The teardrops are starting now, Freddy, “The Rains Came.”

“Since I Met You, Baby,” your songs have been “My Secret Love.”

No doubt there will be some more “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” at “Mi Ranchito” because, with Fender’s guitar and his honey voice gone, we know, like he told us, “You’ll Lose a Good Thing.”

“Vaya Con Dios,” Freddy.

I think I will go get that greatest hits CD.

XXX

Don’s life revolves around the many poetry circles in San Antonio. His poems have been published in a hundred anthologies and periodicals and broadcasted on local TV and national radio. His way with words has won awards and recognition from such diverse organizations as Sierra Vieja Tequila, VIA Metropolitan Transit, and the Irish Cultural Society of San Antonio. Find his work in the San Antonio Report and the Good Men Project.