The song became a hit in the mid-1930s, thanks to Gene Autry and Bing Crosby, around the same time that Tenney became a lawyer[3] and was elected to the California State Assembly.

[4] Upon his return, he married Leda Westrem, a 16 year-old stenographer, and they had a baby while living at 3764 South Main street, Los Angeles.

People came to believe that the song had been named after one of the dance hall girls with a dubious reputation, called Rose Erskine.

"[7] The song was first played by Jack Tenney and the Majestic Orchestra in 1922, with Helen Stone on vocals, but there is no evidence of a recording being made.

"[8] After the song was published on March 10, 1923,[1] it was recorded as an instrumental, "Rosa de Mexicali", by the International Novelty Orchestra on September 6, 1923 in New York.

[12] Gene Autry, rising star of Hillbilly radio and more recently, Cowboy westerns, had branched out into a third career as a recording artist.

This had yielded little until a re-release of 1931's "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine"[13] became successful after Autry performed the song in two 1935 films (the science-fiction/western 12-part serial The Phantom Empire in February and Tumbling Tumbleweeds in September).

Discovering a formula that would lead to many future successes, the song his partner and business manager Jimmy Long had penned in 1930 sold a reported five million copies by the decade's end.

[14] Autry recorded "Mexicali Rose" on December 24, 1935 (1935-12-24)[2] at the American Furniture Mart ARC Studios, 666 N Lake Shore Drive, 21st Floor, Chicago.

Autry was still considered a hillbilly or folk artist, and his recordings were released on ARC's discount labels: these were Melotone 6-05-59[2] and Perfect 6-05-59[2] in April 1936, and later that year on Conqueror 8629[15] and Vocalion 3097.

[27][28] The song has been recorded by many artists, including The Lennon Sisters (1960) (Sing Twelve Great Hits, Dot Records DLP 3292), Sammy Kaye (1939),[29] Ambrose Orchestra (1939),[30] Wayne King Orchestra (1946),[31] Burl Ives (1961),[32] Teresa Brewer (1959),[33] The Mills Brothers (1957),[34] Jerry Lee Lewis,(1974)[35] Deke Dickerson and the Echophonics(1998)[36]