Richard "Billy" Vaughn was a singer, multi-instrumentalist and orchestra le… Read Full Bio ↴Richard "Billy" Vaughn was a singer, multi-instrumentalist and orchestra leader.

He was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, where his father was a barber who loved music and inspired Billy to teach himself to play the mandolin at age 3, while suffering a case of the measles. He went on to learn a number of other instruments.

In 1941, Vaughn joined the United States National Guard for what had been planned as a one-year assignment, but when World War II broke out, he was sent abroad till the war ended in 1945. He decided to make music a career when he was discharged from the army at the end of the war, and attended Western Kentucky State College, now known as Western Kentucky University, majoring in music composition. He had apparently learned barbering from his father, because he did some while studying at Western Kentucky to support himself financially, when he was not able to get jobs playing the piano at local night clubs and lounges. While he was a student there, three other students, Jimmy Sacca, Donald McGuire and Seymour Spiegelman, who had formed a vocal trio, The Hilltoppers, recruited Vaughn to play the piano with them. He soon added his voice to theirs, converting the trio to a quartet. As a member of the group, he also wrote their first hit song, Trying, which charted in 1952.

In 1954 he left the group to join Dot Records in Gallatin, Tennessee as music director. He subsequently formed his own orchestra, which had a big hit in that same year with Melody of Love. He went on to have many more hits over the next decade and a half, and based purely on chart successes, was the most successful orchestra leader of all time.

La Bamba
Billy Vaughn Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia y otra cosita
Y arriba y arriba
Arriba y arriba y arriba ire
Yo no soy marinero
Por ti sere

Para subir al cielo
Para subir al cielo
Se necesita una escalera larga
Y otra chiquita

Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia y otra cosita
Arriba y arriba
Arriba y arriba, arriba ire

Para subir al cielo
Para subir al cielo
Se necesita una escalera larga
Una escalera larga y otra chiquita
Arriba y arriba
Arriba y arriba
Arriba y arriba

Para bailar la bamba

Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Billy Vaughn's La Bamba are a playful and upbeat celebration of the joy of dance. The song opens with the repeated phrase "Para bailar la bamba" which means "to dance the bamba." The singer then explains that to dance this lively dance, one needs a little bit of grace and something else that isn't quite defined. As the beat picks up, the lyrics become more fanciful, with the singer imagining dancing higher and higher until he can reach the sky itself. He notes that to climb that high, one needs not only a long ladder but also a smaller one.

The repetition of the refrain, "arriba y arriba" meaning "up and up," creates a sense of excitement and momentum, as if the singer and the listeners are together caught up in the joy of the dance. The final repetition of the chorus is a celebratory declaration that the bamba can indeed be danced. Overall, the song is a lighthearted and playful invitation to join in the dance and feel the joy of movement.

Line by Line Meaning

Para bailar la bamba
To dance the bamba

Se necesita una poca de gracia
You need a little bit of grace

Una poca de gracia y otra cosita
A little bit of grace and another thing

Y arriba y arriba
And up and up

Arriba y arriba y arriba ire
Up and up and up I'll go

Yo no soy marinero
I'm not a sailor

Por ti sere
For you, I'll be

Para subir al cielo
To go up to the sky

Se necesita una escalera larga
You need a long ladder

Y otra chiquita
And another small one

Para bailar la bamba
To dance the bamba