Today’s featured instrumental, The Lonely Bull, was the first song to popularise mariachi-style horns on mainstream western pop radio. In 1962, it peaked at No. 6 in the US and No. 1 in Australia. Soon after, Johnny Cash added Mexican-style trumpets to his monumental 1963 country hit The Ring of Fire. Cash recalled that after hearing Anita Carter’s original version of the song, he dreamed it was accompanied by “Mexican horns,” noting that the addition of trumpets marked a departure from his basic sound.
I first encountered this now-iconic Mexican-song in the film Jerry Maguire, whose magnificent soundtrack has already been discussed here in relation to Dylan’s Shelter From the Storm and Springsteen’s Secret Garden.
The Lonely Bull alludes to the solitary bull in the bullfighting arenas once common across Spain and much of Latin America. Whenever I think of bullfighting, my mind inevitably turns to Ernest Hemingway’s vivid accounts of the tradition in The Sun Also Rises and Death in the Afternoon. I once visited Bogotá’s Plaza de Toros La Santamaría, not for a corrida (bullfight), but to watch a Davis Cup tennis tie between Colombia and the United States (image inset).
Background (Wikipedia)
While experimenting with the sound of an overdubbed trumpet, Herb Alpert recorded this song in his garage. The single and album recordings of the song were recorded at Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood by members of The Wrecking Crew, and featured the sounds of a crowd cheering “Olé” inside a bullfight arena in Mexico, as well as the sounds of the trumpets announcing the matador before he enters the bullring. A video for the song was filmed in 1967 inside the Toreo de Tijuana bullring.
References:
1. The Lonely Bull (song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Great write-up about a wonderful record. My sweety and I saw Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass in concert this past fall. He is amazing to see, still performing at 90.
I came to recognise it mainly because of its indirect influence on Cash’s Ring of Fire. Then I recalled it from the Jerry Maguire movie and thought, this has to go in. It’s uncanny that you saw Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass so recently – and what an age! Amazing.
I hadn’t known about that influence until reading your review. One finds such interesting facts when researching songs!
Alpert had been scheduled to play Winnipeg, Manitoba in April 2020, which of course was cancelled due to Covid. When I saw the announcement last summer, it was a no-brainer to get tickets. He played an hour and three quarters, non-stop, and his wife Lani Hall sang a few numbers, too. Fabulous!
The Wikipedia article on Cash’s song mentioned ‘The Lonely Bull”s influence and it was the first of it’s kind to break-through in the West – as it were.
Apart from this track, I was none the wiser about Herb Alpert, so given your appreciation for him and your recent attendance – your feedback couldn’t have come at a better time! I’m so grateful for your personal feedback on the concert.
It’s a pleasure to drop in and be part of the conversation about music and the makers of it.
love this…my Mom and Dad played these albums when I was very young…
They had pretty darn good tastes then! I love it the more I hear it and it seems unheralded in modern times when it really shouldn’t be.