Mexico Songs by Gringos

I love Mexican music and could go on and on about my favorite groups and songs. In fact I wrote about some of them in this article.

There are also plenty of cool songs about Mexico by foreigners, mostly Americans. 

Sometimes they’re dreamy glimpses of Mexico in the imagination, like James Taylor’s Mexico.

Sometimes they’re stories of bandits and federales, like Pancho and Lefty, by Townes Van Zandt, made famous by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

Sometimes they use the trope of Mexico as an escape, like Mexico by Cake, but they’re good songs about Mexico anyway.

The bad songs about Mexico, which aren’t on my list, are about doing tequila shots and making stupid decisions. Honestly, I don’t mind the lyrical content—I like doing tequila shots and making stupid decisions—but the music accompanying these banal, cliched songs about Mexico is undeniably terrible. 

Instead, I want to hear (and recommend) Going Down to Mexico by ZZ Top, Mexican Minutes by Brooks & Dunn, The Seashores of Old Mexico by George Strait, Buenas Tardes Amigo by Ween, Mexicali Blues by the Grateful Dead, and South of the Border, a jazz standard done very well by Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, and numerous other artists. 

All of these songs about Mexico and more are on my Youtube playlist Mexico Songs by Gringos. Check it out, and please recommend what I missed.

Tips for Flying in Mexico and Finding Cheap Domestic Flights

The essentials for being an expat

Once again, thank you to Transitions Abroad for choosing my story, “3 Essentials You Need to Be an Expat,” as the second-place winning article for their expatriate writing contest.

This is the fourth year now that one of my articles has been chosen as a winner in this contest. You can check out all the 2018 winners here.

It’s easy to take a vacation in a fun and beautiful country like Mexico and decide you want to move there. It’s a lot harder once you’re faced with the practicalities of moving abroad.

In other articles, I’ve described the specific things you must do to move to Mexico. This new article, however, is more about what to expect in another country, not only Mexico, and how to prepare yourself. I also discuss the personality types that are best suited to living abroad. And money, of course.

Please click the link for the article, and thanks again to Transitions Abroad for being such a great supporter of my writing over the years.