La Bamba (song)

"La Bamba" (pronounced [la ˈβamba]), sometimes known as "La Bomba", is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz. The song is best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit on the U.S. charts. Valens's version is ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and is the only song on the list not written or sung in English.

The oldest recorded version known is that of Álvaro Hernández Ortiz, who recorded the song in 1938 under the name El Jarocho.

"La Bamba" has been covered by numerous other artists, most notably by Los Lobos, whose version was the title track of the soundtrack to the 1987 film La Bamba, a biopic about Valens; their version topped many charts in the same year.