Ignored           Obscured            Restored

“Suavecito.”  It was a top 20 hit on Billboard in 1972 and was off the debut album by the San Francisco based Malo.  The band was made up of Abel Zarate, Pablo Tellez, Arcelio Garcia, Richard Spremich, Richard Kermode, Luis Gasca, Roy Murray, and Jorge Santana, the brother of guitarist Carlos Santana, Richard Bean guested on the lead vocal for “Suavecito.”

Wikipedia claims “Suavecito” (Spanish for “smooth”) has been adopted as “The Chicano National Anthem.”

The song was written by Bean, Zarate and Tellez.  Bean wrote the lyrics in the form of a poem.  He has told the story that the song is about “this girl in algebra class I had a crush on.  I was in love.  Maybe puppy love.  I hated algebra.”

He claims his former classmate, at San Francisco’s Mission High School, still has no idea he wrote the lyrics for her.

Fun fact:  Bean’s great grandfather was Judge Roy Bean, who, according to legend, earned the reputation as a “hanging judge” in Texas jurisdiction.

Enjoy… until next week.