John, when translated, the words of La Bamba really don't make a lot of sense, but they sure fit together well in Spanish. Same with I'll Be There Before The Last Teardrop Falls by Freddie Fender. That Spanish verse is absolutely beautiful in Spanish and flows extremely well, but when translated to English, well, it kinda fall short.

Same holds true with some of the Italian songs I used to perform regularly. Never really learned much Italian when I was in the Navy or from my Italian relatives, but the songs performed by Dean Martin always sounded so romantic that I had to learn them in order to keep my music job in Baltimore's Little Italy. Phonetics worked out well for me and I really had no idea what the words I was singing actually meant.

All the best,

Gary