René y René “Chantilly Lace” b/w “I’m Not the Only One (No Soy El Unico)”
Okay, so on Uptown this last Saturday, I said I was going to feature Larry Houston’s “I Know We Can Make It,” a fun and funky tune in its own right. HOWEVER, I woke up in a cold sweat that night and realized my mistake. I should have hipped you to another track I played that evening: “I’m Not the Only One” a.k.a. “No Soy El Unico” by Laredo duo René y René.
Why the late-night panic? Well, insomnia, for one. The bigger reason is that this record is incredibly evocative of a time and a place in Texas music history.
René Ornelas and René Herrera recorded this single for San Antonio producer and recording empresario, Abie Epstein, who was the man behind labels like Cobra, Dynamic, Jox and more. In the early sixties, Epstein and the bands he recorded combined the sounds of doo-wop, rock ‘n’ roll, soul and nascent Tejano music for what would eventually be dubbed “The West Side Sound.” You can hear the West Side sound in acts like The Royal Jesters and Sunny & The Sunliners.
This particular René y René single came out in 1965, on the heels of a pretty big year for the duo. In ‘64, René y René’s “Angelito” cracked the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and appeared on American Bandstand to boot. With that in mind, I find it baffling that “Chantilly Lace” appears as the A-side on this single.
“Chantilly Lace,” made famous by the Big Bopper, feels old fashioned, even by 1964 standards. René y René’s cover isn’t bad, it just doesn’t feel right. If you want to skip it, I wouldn’t blame you.
“No Soy El Unico,” on the other hand, is fantastic. If you could plop Liverpool on the Rio Grande, this is probably what you’d end up with. It’s got those Merseybeat chord changes (you know the ones I’m talking about) and pitch-perfect harmonies. The lyrics are in both English and Spanish, but you don’t have to be a speaker of either language to feel the feels from this track. Definitely add this one to the tally of B-Sides that are way better than the A.
