Ritchie Valens – Come On, Let’s Go

Ritchie Valens is known now because of the plane crash, the 1987 movie La Bamba, and the music he made. His rise was short and he was only 17 years old when he died. I remember the movie in the 80s, I went in not knowing much about him except the song La Bamba. I came out with a new appreciation for Ritchie Valens and he carries more influence than his small catalog. Now before you think that I took the movie as gospel…I didn’t but it did get him noticed.

Valens recorded more songs than I ever knew. He recorded 29 songs and he wrote 21 of them. Come On, Let’s Go still sounds fresh and the quality is great. The song peaked at #42 on the Billboard 100 in 1958. It has been covered by Tommy Steel which peaked at #10 in the UK in 1958, The McCoys #22 on the Billboard 100, and Los Lobos for 1987 the movie which peaked at #21 on the Billboard 100 in 1987. After he died, a live album was released as well.

Bob Keane produced most of Ritchie Valens’ recordings. In the summer of 1958, the two hit the road to promote the young new rock singer’s first release which was this song. While in the car, Valens played him another song that he would like to try that he didn’t write. It was a Mexican folk song that Keane didn’t think that audiences would like because of the Spanish lyrics. On top of that…Valens didn’t know much Spanish at all.  But…that’s a song for another post.

Valen’s contributions are huge. He is considered a pioneer of Chicano and Latin rock, inspiring many musicians of Mexican heritage. Artists like Santana and Los Lobos are among the artists he influenced. Who knows how far Valens could have gone had the airplane crash hadn’t happened. Not only was he a great performer but he could write as well.

The B side…Framed

Come On, Let’s Go

Well, come on, let’s go, let’s go, little darlin’
Tell me that you’ll never leave me
Come on, come on, let’s go again
Go again and again

Well, now, swing me, swing me, swing me, little darlin’
Come on, let’s go, little darlin’
Let’s go, let’s go again once more

Well, I love you, babe
And I’ll never let you go
Come on, baby, so, oh, pretty baby, I love you so

Well, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, little sweetheart
Forever we can always be together
Come on, come on, let’s go again

Oh, well, I love you, babe
And I’ll never let you go
Come on, baby, so, oh, pretty baby, I love you so

Well, come on, let’s go, let’s go, little darlin’
Tell me that you’ll never leave me
Come on, come on, let’s go again
Again, again, and again
Again, again, and again
Again, again, and again

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

26 thoughts on “Ritchie Valens – Come On, Let’s Go”

  2. I really enjoy this song, his vocals are so great. There’s this tiny bit of hesitation mingled in that really makes it special. Who knows indeed what may have happened, we have what we have and I’m grateful for that.

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    1. I started to think about it…he was the same age as The Beatles…so he would have been part of their generation.
      I didn’t know he had that many songs.

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      2. I just looked it up…I was shocked. John, Paul, and George, had just met each other. They hadn’t played any big gigs yet…. so he may have related to the new music rather well…more than some of his 50s peers.

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  4. I’ve always loved “Come On, Let’s Go”. I’m afraid “La Bamba” and that song are the only ones I know by Ritchie Valens. “Framed” is really cool too – it’s got a bit of a Muddy Waters Hoochie Coochie Man vibe. Just incredible he was just 17!

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  5. “Framed” is a great song. In case you thought profiling was something new, here it is in the 50s. This is a cover of a Leiber & Stoller song, recorded by the Robins in 1954. Lead vocal by Bobby Nunn, who then went on to the Coasters.

    Los Lobos covered “Come on Let’s Go” on their 1983 release “And a Time to Dance”; their first on Slash and their debut to most of the world, who didn’t know of their 1978 independently-released album of traditional music.

    For a guy who only made to age 17, Valens was pretty amazing.

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    1. I learned something completely new about him… I never expected 29 songs recorded. Someone else just mentioned he was in a movie called Go Johnny Go that I just looked up. I never knew that as well.

      It is amazing that he was only 17…he was the same age as The Beatles who had just met each other…at least three of them.

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  6. Good song, to me sounds more modern & fresher than most early pre-60s rock tunes. 17?? Wow, I knew he was young but must have forgotten he was that young. He’d be around Mick Jagger or Ringo Starr’s age.

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    1. Oh…he was younger than Ringo….and John. I never put that together until this morning. He was making it while they were just meeting and playing birthday parties in Liverpool.
      Dave I had no clue he wrote that many songs…or recorded them!

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    1. Oh he was/is Ritchie Valens to many people. I’ve looked up details about his life and the movie is somewhat accurate from what I see…
      John I never thought he recorded 29 songs though.

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      3. The funny thing is I have seen so many excerpts from it that I feel as though I have seen it in its entirety. There is another movie made about a teenage Mexican music sensation Selena Quintanilla-Pérez who hit it big in the US but was killed by her former friend and manger as she was getting big. It’s a pretty good movie called ‘Selena’ starring Jennifer Lopez.

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      5. Unbelievable what happened to her. And Ritchie and Buddy (about to take the world by storm) so similar in sound lost their lives in the same aviation crash! That is so sad.
        This reminds me of how fleeting life can be.
        I was telling my son last night when we were watching a documentary about the great Colombia footballer Andres Escobar who at one moment was Captain of Colombia (Colombia were No 4 ranked in the world) playing at the US World Cup and by misfortune produced an own goal and the next he is assassinated in Medellin, Colombia which many presume was for his action at the World Cup. The point is you can be on top of the World one day and the next day you die. Didn’t Warren Zevon say ‘Eat every sándwich’?

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