“I Got Mexico”
Eddy Raven
Written by Frank J. Meyers and Eddy Raven
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
June 16, 1984
Eddy Raven had been putting in work in the studio and on the road for many years by the time he earned his first No. 1 single.
Raven was born and raised in Louisiana, and while he originally wanted to be a professional baseball player, a broken ankle helped turn his attention to music.
“I Got Mexico” benefitted from Raven’s own songwriting pen and production efforts, as well as two collaborators who would have incredibly longevity in their fields: songwriter Frank J. Meyers and producer Paul Worley.
Edward Raven was born and raised in Louisiana, and while he originally wanted to be a professional baseball player, a broken ankle helped turn his attention to music. A typographical error on his first single in 1962 proved fortuitous, and the “Eddy” spelling helped him stand out in a world full of musical “Eddies.”
Still, it would be more than twenty years between that independent release and his first No. 1 hit. He was getting cuts as a songwriter by the early seventies, and signed his first major recording contract in 1974. He wouldn’t crack the top twenty of the country chart until 1981, when his only album for Elektra produced four top twenty hits. Moving to the RCA roster, his first release for the label became his first No. 1 hit.
“I Got Mexico” does something most of the island-flavored jams that imitated the late, great Jimmy Buffett don’t. Raven doesn’t try to pretend that all is well south of the border, even though he’s eating well and living good. He’s only there because his heart is broken, and this new lifestyle is his way of dealing with the pain and loss: “I still love you, that’s the way it goes. He’s got you, I’ve got Mexico.”
Raven’s performance only adds to the heartbreak here. His voice quivers and breaks in all the right places. He sounds as if convincing his ex of his well-being is completely out of reach, and he’s just trying to convince himself.
“I Got Mexico” was the second in a string of nineteen consecutive top ten hits for Raven, but we won’t see him on top again until 1987.
“I Got Mexico” gets an A.
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Oh man, do I love this song. Oddly, I don’t remember it from when it came out. But every time it comes on the oldies stations, I turn it up.
Just a great song. Raven does a really fine job on the vocal. Very relaxed yet full of heart. So glad this received an A.
I blew my dad’s mind as a ten year-old when I unexpectedly sang every word to this song while driving with him somewhere in the suburbs of Minneapolis while listening to KEEY K-102 on the car radio.
I will always remember the bemused smile on his face as I sat next to him in the front seat of a Ford Tempo belting out the lyrics to a song about a failed relationship playing out in Mexico. As a father to two teen-age boys now, I appreciate those moments when you realize your growing children are their own person with interests, experiences, and even little histories separate from your own. I guess I am getting at how special the emergence and development of identity and personality can be within families.
I had already become the family member who was inexplicably really into country music.
Thank you, Eddy Raven, for this song and that memory.