What is Spanish for Chutzpah?
Posted in General on January 22nd, 2014 by Eugene Finerman – 3 CommentsIn 1836, Mexico’s failure to enforce a Spanish requirement on its immigrants made it difficult to explain to the Alamo garrison that it was about to be massacred. A 3000 man army with cannons offered a hint, but the Texans might have missed the subtlety. So the Mexican army band serenaded the garrison with “The Cut Throat Song”–a musical message to expect no mercy.
Here is the number:
The Texans probably assumed that they would be bored to death.
Some 120 years later, a John Wayne movie wanted to use “The Cut Throat Song” in its soundtrack. But the composer Dmitri Tiomkin knew that he could do better. In a way, he did…
Of course, Santa Anna did not have the foresight to include a full orchestra in his army. And he would have had to melt down some cannons to increase the brass section. There is also some question as to how the Texans would have reacted to Tiomkin’s lush, seductive music. Probably panic…They were ready to die for Texas…but not same-sex dating!