La Bamba is a dance or 'son' from the east coast Mexican port city of Vera Cruz. Formerly a great sailors' town. The area has a mix of peoples- Spanish, Portuguese, African and Indian, and, formerly, stranded sailors from everywhere. The citizens claim to be the handsomest people of all. Now an oil port.

In the song translation above, the usual y arriba y arriba- higher and higher- and ay arriba y arriba- ah, higher and higher- is replaced with ay arriba arriba. Maybe this is on Valens' record, I don't have it handy.

In Mexico, it is called a son, not a song, and is for dancing (4/6 time). It often has a lot of nonsense verses (coplas) sung as the dance progresses. As a result, there are no set words except a set similar to those given, as the vocalist urges the dancers on. Compare this with the content of our old fiddle tunes such as Old Dan Tucker or, as Joe suggests, the Beetles song.

Bamba has no known starting point, probably latter 19th century. It spread over Mexico and the American southwest.

A fairly good explanation of this and other Mexican dances at Bamba