El Choclo
Argentine tango written and composed by Ángel Villoldo
"El Choclo" (English: The Corn Cob) is a popular song written by Ángel Villoldo, an Argentine musician. Allegedly written in honour of and taking its title from the nickname of the proprietor of a nightclub, who was known as "El Choclo", it is one of the most popular tangos in Argentina. The song became popular in the United States under the name "Kiss of Fire" after English-language words written by Lester Allen and Robert Hill were added. The English version was first recorded by Louis Armstrong, and later became a No.1 charting hit with over a million record sales for singer Georgia Gibbs.
History
The piece was premiered in Buenos Aires in 1903 – the date appears on a program of the venue – at the elegant restaurant El Americano on Cangallo 966 (today Teniente General Perón 966) by the orchestra led by José Luis Roncallo.
"El Choclo" has been recorded (without vocals) by many dance orchestras, especially in Argentina. A number of vocal versions were recorded in the United States in 1952, but the most popular was the one by Georgia Gibbs, which reached No.1 on the Billboard chart under the name "Kiss of Fire". Tony Martin's version reached No.6, Toni Arden's No.14, Billy Eckstine's No.16, Louis Armstrong's No.20, and Guy Lombardo's No.30. There are Spanish versions of "Kiss of Fire" by Connie Francis and Nat King Cole. In 1953 Olavi Virta and Metro-Tytöt released a Finnish version, titled "Tulisuudelma", which means "Kiss of Fire".
“El Choclo” enters the record as argentine tango written and composed by Ángel Villoldo. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Choclo, Argentine and tango can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q886882. VIAF identifies the subject as 174566766. The Library of Congress control number is n00077862. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1903, 1952 and 1953.
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This entry incorporates text from “El Choclo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.