Lydia Mendoza was a guitarist and singer of traditional Mexican-American music. During her decorated career, she released as many as 50 albums, and recorded over 800 songs.
This song, recorded in 1934, launched Lydia Mendoza's career as a Mexican-American as an artist. Known as "The Lark of the Border," Mendoza would go on to receive the National Medal of Arts and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Folk Alliance International.
Era yo una chiquilla todavía cuando tú casualmente me encontraste y a merced a tus artes de mundano de mi honra el perfuma me llevaste. Luego hiciste conmigo lo que todos los que son como tú con las mujeres, por lo tanto no extrañes que yo ahora en tu cara te diga lo que eres. Mal hombre, tan ruin es tu alma que no tiene nombre. Eres un canalla. Eres un malvado. Eres un mal hombre. A mi triste destino abandonada entable fiera lucha con la vida, ella recia y cruel me torturaba y más débil al fin cai vencida. Tú supiste a tiempo mi derrota, mi espantoso calvario conociste. Te dijeron algunos: "Ve a salvarle." Y probando quien eres, te reíste. Mal hombre, tan ruin es tu alma que no tiene nombre. Eres un canalla. Eres un malvado. Eres un mal hombre. Poco tiempo después en el arroyo, entre sombras mi vida defendía. Una noche con otra tú pasaste, que al mirarme sentí que te decía: "¿Quién es esa mujer?" "¿Tú la conoces?" "Ya la veres", respondiste, "una cualquiera". al oír de tus labios el ultraje demostrabas también, lo que tú eras. Mal hombre, tan ruin es tu alma que no tiene nombre. Eres un canalla. Eres un malvado. Eres un mal hombre. —— I was still a young girl when, by chance, I met you. And thanks to your worldly charm, you crushed the flower of my innocence. Later you treated me like all men who are like you, treat women. So don't be surprised that, now, I say it to your face what you are. Bad man, your soul is so wicked it has no name. You are a pig. You are evil. You are a bad man. To my sad fate abandoned, engaged in a fierce struggle with life, suffering the depths of cruelty, I was weak and finally defeated. With time, you learned of my downfall, how my life had become a road to hell. Some told you: "Go save her". And proving who you are, you just laughed. Bad man, your soul is so wicked it has no name. You are a pig. You are evil. You are a bad man. A short time later in the gutter, I defended my life in a shadowy world. One night, with another woman, you passed by me, and upon seeing my expression, she said to you: "Who is that woman?" "Do you know her?" "Soon you'll see," you replied, "she's a nobody." At the hearing from your lips the abuse, you were showing again, what you were. Bad man, your soul is so wicked it has no name. You are a pig. You are evil. You are a bad man.