History
"La Paloma" became quickly popular in Mexico. It was a favorite of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, and at the same time the Mexican revolutionaries played and popularized it well. In the 1939 film Juarez, Emperor Maximilian (portrayed by Brian Aherne) requests that it be played during his execution. As Emperor Maximilian was a Habsburg, ships of the Austrian Navy would never play the song.
German and French versions appeared in 1865. In 1899, a performance of the melody by the French Garde Républicaine was one of the first recordings that were made.
New lyrics (not translations) are available in many languages. They typically involve generic images of white doves and true loves. They lack the specificity of the original Spanish, in which a Cuban sailor laments parting from his "Guachinanga chinita" (his adorable Mexican sweetheart), and asks her to cherish his spirit if it returns to her window as a dove. Then he fantasizes that if he does return safely, they will marry and have seven, or even fifteen, children.
In English, a version titled "No More" with lyrics by Don Robertson and Hal Blair was recorded by both Dean Martin and Elvis Presley.Template:Blue Hawaii Album RCA LPM-2426
La Paloma has been interpreted by musicians of diverse backgrounds including opera, pop, jazz, rock, military bands, and folk music.
The song entered the Guinness Book of World Records being sung by the largest choir, 88,600 people, in Hamburg on May 9, 2004.
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)