Mal Hombre

The title means Evil Man or Bad Man, and the song is a defiant address to a man who has done wrong. It came out as Bluebird B-2200-A, matrix BVE 82642-1, recorded at the Texas Hotel in San Antonio per Spottswood, via UCLA. The date is March 27, 1934 per DAHR, Texas Highways and Wikipedia's discography, and August 10, 1934 per UCLA, probably an issue date; Wikipedia's body text says 1936. It was her first solo record and became her theme, an instant hit across the Southwest and on both sides of the border, according to UCLA and PBS NewsHour. Her name was misspelled Lidya on 1930s Bluebird releases.

Authorship is unsettled: Wikipedia credits Mendoza, Folkways listings credit her arrangement or call it public domain, and UCLA says Elisa Berumen recorded it for Victor in 1926. UCLA's blog says she learned the lyrics as a child from a bubble-gum wrapper and the melody later from a theater show, and that she denied the popular belief that it came from her own experience; Wikipedia says she heard a Monterrey tango performance. Mercedes del Río's orchestra recorded it for Vocalion, described by UCLA as made famous by Lydia Mendoza. We do not know whether our upload is the 1934 original or a later recording.