Not that a song like this needs to be “fun,” but it doesn’t need to be so pokey either. Ian Mathers: Certainly this kind of narrative is, for lack of a more graceful phrase, on the right side of history, but it oompahs along with the kind of folk-music stateliness that both makes it feel more Important, even a bit timeless, and sucks some of the life out of it.
Even so, the song manages to end with Juanito committing to see his dying father one last time, throwing caution to the wind, knowing damn well he missed out on so much of his family due to his longing for a better place – one he freely admits wasn’t all that it was chalked up to be. It’s all frustrating and sad, but the call out to the numerous crosses in the desert near the US-Mexico border is especially devastating when you’ve heard about those crosses before in your life. I am so thankful they did that because I know far too many people who, like Juanito’s children in this song, have shed their culture and language and have trouble empathizing or even communicating with their adult, Spanish-speaking parents. Fortunately for me, my family taught me Spanish first and made sure to always remind me and my siblings/cousins that we were Mexican-Americans, but Mexican first and to never lose that part of our heritage. This song hits harder and hurts more because of the current climate we live in, and coming from a family where both of my parents were raised in Mexico and my maternal grandfather told us he crossed illegally by hitching on to the bottom of a train this feels all too familiar.
Stephen Eisermann: A terrific Norteño track detailing the life of a man who crossed illegally and his life through his eyes. Norteno’s biggest stars - more hashtags, more T-shirts, less controversyĪlfred Soto: An embrace of identity without a trace of jingoism, “Corrido de Juanito” depends on the sweetly modulated trill of that accordion.
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