BILLY COTTON AND HIS BAND

 

artist: BILLY COTTON AND HIS BAND
label: REX 9547
release: 1939, England, 10" 78rpm
A-side: South Of The Border
(Kennedy - Carr)
B-side: Thanks For Everything
comment #1: vocal: Alan Breeze
comment #2: Billy Cotton & his Band (vocal: Alan Breeze) on Rex 9547 - recorded May 5, 1939.
Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy (1902-1984) wrote the lyrics of the song "South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)" in 1939 after having been inspired by a holiday postcard he received from his sister in Southern California to tell him that, 'today we've gone to Mexico, south of the border'. Despite the middle-American sound of the number, it was written by another British composer Michael Carr (real name Maurice Alfred Cohen; 1905-1968), and recorded first by that British entertainment establishment figure, Billy Cotton.