The Lark of the Border

Lydia Mendoza was only a teenager when she became an icon of Mexican American music. The year was 1934. The song was “Mal Hombre,” or “Bad Man.” A brave choice for a solo debut, the bitter tango of lost innocence and contempt forever defined her. The lyrics, quite possibly a prostitute’s lament, struck a nerve.

But the moment was more than that.

The beautiful singer from Houston with piercing Cleopatra eyes was speaking for every woman who had been hurt by a thoughtless guy. This fearless, discarded girl was willing to confront him. Though Mendoza did not write the song, she made it her own. A half-century before young pop singers Madonna and Selena embodied such defiant female empowerment, Mendoza had arrived.

“It took a. “I don’t think any other woman had sung something that direct.”