El Degüello

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the bugle call. For for the ZZ Top album, see Degüello.
 This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

El Degüello is a bugle call of Moorish origin notable in its use by the Mexican Army during the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. According to James A. Michener's book Texas, the original meaning of the Degüello call was an appeal to an enemy to surrender or else they would die by the sword. General Antonio López de Santa Anna of the Mexican Army used it to signify that no quarter would be given to the enemy.

According to various English-Spanish dictionaries, El Degüello means no mercy. The literal translation is slit-throat. Michener's book translates it as The Beheading.

[edit] Conflicting versions

In various films, the sound of El Degüello varies; sometimes quite markedly.

  • It is depicted as a non-lyrical song — not a bugle call — in the John Wayne films The Alamo (1960) and Rio Bravo (1959), and in The Alamo (2004). In the first two films mentioned, the same music is used. In the latter, it is in the form of a military dirge.