Canción del Mariachi

Why is this Scottish-American dude singing in Spanish?

The music Los Lobos made for the 1995 film, Desperado, was defining in a way for me. I remember watching with my guitar in my lap, re-watching, re-winding over and over, learning all the songs as the movie played... Yes, I had the soundtrack, too, but playing along with the film was a different experience altogether that made this mythical world of El Mariachi feel oddly real to me. There was almost a cartoonish quality to the movie violence (if you watch carefully, you see the same stunt guys meet over-the-top grisly ends several times over), and the characters felt mythical - particularly Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, and of course Antonio Banderas who performed the lead vocal on this tune in the film.

My first language is NOT Spanish, and it took years to feel confident enough to sing something like this. Many years ago I attempted to immerse myself in the language by participating fully in a local Spanish-speaking church. It was good for me in many ways - more than just getting better with the language. I put myself in a place where I was the only non-Latino and non-Spanish-speaker in a room of 30-40 people. I tried not to ask too often for any translation - trusting that my ears would adjust. All I received was kindness... well... also the occasional "¡Oye, come esto! Come!" (Hey, eat this!) as someone would hand me a fresh jalapeño, serrano, or habanero pepper which I accepted gratefully and suffered through the test. Thankfully, I learned to like very spicy foods at a relatively young age. I kept going to events and study groups for a year or two - my favorite times were playing guitar alongside two, three, or sometimes five other people with guitars and trying my best to sing along with their hymns. That time and the people I met was a treasure.