paints "four characterful figures that seem to come directly from a vintage vampire movie..."
Having made a music video about General Lorencez, the 'losing' general on Cinco de Mayo, it seemed appropriate to make one about the 'winning' general.
With the help of AI, I came up with these lyrics:
[Intro]
[Single acoustic guitar picking a dusty, minor melody]
[Steady boot-stomp rhythm: boom-clap, boom-clap]
[Verse 1]
He was born where the Rio Grande flows wide and deep
In a land full of secrets that a soldier must keep.
Ignacio Zaragoza, with the dust on his coat,
With a fire in his spirit and a lump in his throat.
The Emperor’s shadow was crossing the sea
To put a young nation back down on its knee.
But the boy from the border, he sharpened his blade
And waited for France in the Puebla shade.
[Chorus]
[Fuller sound, add a mournful trumpet in the distance]
Oh, the rain’s gonna fall on the hill of the saint,
Where the pride of Napoleon begins to grow faint!
From the forts of Loreto, the lightning will scream,
To wake up the world from a conqueror’s dream.
Stand tall, Zaragoza! The border’s own son,
The battle is coming, and it has to be won.
[Verse 2]
Six thousand veterans, the "best in the world,"
With the flags of the Empire so proudly unfurled.
Lorencez was laughing, he called it a game,
He didn't know "peasants" could handle the flame.
But the slopes of the mountain were slicker than oil,
And the heart of the Mexican sang in the soil.
With a rifle, a machete, and a soul made of stone,
They stood for a republic they called as their own.
[Bridge]
[Music strips back to just the stomp and a low bass note]
[Vocal delivery: Slow and intense]
Then the heavens opened up…
And the Frenchmen started to slide.
There was nowhere to run…
And nowhere to hide.
Zaragoza looked out through his spectacles' lens
And watched as the glory of Paris… ends.
[Verse 3]
[Tempo increases - driving energy]
The Zouaves are retreating, they’re throwing their gear,
The "invincible" army is shaking with fear.
A telegram flies to the President’s hand:
"The arms of our nation have honored the land!"
He didn't have gold and he didn't have lace,
But he looked every giant right dead in the face.
[Chorus]
Oh, the rain’s gonna fall on the hill of the saint,
Where the pride of Napoleon begins to grow faint!
From the forts of Loreto, the lightning will scream,
To wake up the world from a conqueror’s dream.
Stand tall, Zaragoza! The border’s own son,
The battle is coming, and it has to be won.
[Outro]
[Slow down - Return to the lonely guitar]
The fever, it took him... before he turned old.
But the story of Puebla is still being told.
Cinco de Mayo…
The Border General…
He’s coming home.
[Final trumpet note fades into the wind]
To help Sonauto sing it right, I again had to change 'Lorences' for 'Lorensay' and 'Puebla' for 'Pwebla'.
The music style was:
Style: Latin Rock, Storyteller Folk, Acoustic Guitar, Stomps and Claps, Trumpet Solo, Gritty Male Vocals, Epic, Narrative
And the music tags were 'roots rock, latin rock, 2020s, acoustic guitar, folk rock'.
Sonauto theoretically listens to music instructions embedded in the lyrics, but this is buggy in the current version – too often, it will just 'sing' the instructions. So I pulled all the instructions out when making the final tune.
Nano Banana came up with the original art based on the lyrics:
The final step was to combine the music with titles, using ClipChamp:
If I had to do it over again, I think I would research more to find out what is known about Zaragoza's actions at Puebla, as the lyrics lack detail.
I've posted the video as a reel on the TMP Facebook page. You can see English captions with the Facebook version.