The Beatles & Mexico

This space was born due to the interest of a Mexican Beatle fan to tell the world about the Beatles in general, and specifically, if possible, about their relationship with Mexico. Taking this into consideration, a logical point to start is with the most obvious relationship between The Beatles and Mexico.

There are many tributes, some stores, a lot of merchandise and several radio programs devoted to the Fab Four throughout the country; but what about The Beatles themselves? What is their personal relationship with this country of more than a 100 million inhabitants? Let’s check it out.

The Beatles

Beatlemania first hit Mexico, as it did in the US, in 1964. It was a year later, specifically in August 1965; when John, Paul, George & Ringo were due to play at the Auditorio Nacional or the Ciudad de los Deportes stadium in Mexico City. This was obviously news that thrilled youngsters; but Ernesto Uruchurtu, who was major of Mexico City at the time, considered that The Beatles were a bad example for young Mexicans and that our society was not ready to host these kind of events. If this judgement was correct, we’ll never know, but what we do know is that Mexico had the chance to host The Beatle during their summer of ’65 US Tour.

 Anyway, the first real influence from Mexico to The Beatles was the song “Bésame Mucho” by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez (although they played the song as Coasters arranged it). The Boys used to play this song in their early stage act, and even got to record it during their initial session at the Abbey Road studios. This version is available in The Beatles Anthology 1:

 

Later on, the legendary Mexican comedian Tin Tan did a humorous rendition of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (which can be listened at here.) Since the Boys loved this kind of funny tributes, they later asked Tin Tan to approve use of his image for the cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He rejected because he though of himself as unworthy of representing Mexico, so he rather chose to send a Tree of Life, a piece of typical Mexican handcraft.