Veronica

A song for lovely miss V.

I've been meaning to post a song for a while, but I've been really busy. Last week, when I finally started recording again, my studio started to show error messages, so, while I fix that, here is an old song.

My girlfriend (very much like me) has a thing for old Latin American music, like tango and boleros, and this is the first song I wrote for her, so I tried to write it as something from the 1950s or so. It's inevitably cheesy (cursi, we say), but hopefully not over the top. You'll tell me, I guess.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by micayetoca (13 comments total)

This is great. I really like the simple beats you added, and the constant shift from quiet to a little less quiet. I'm sure she liked it. And your voice is perfect for this song.
posted by Corduroy at 12:14 PM on February 11, 2008

Wonderful voice and wonderful song. I think you hit the bolero aspect dead on. Everything here is perfect. I'm really jealous of your guitar playing, in case I've never told you that before.

my studio started to show error messages
NNNNNNNoooooooooooooooooo!

I hope the problem is fixed soon.
posted by sleepy pete at 2:26 PM on February 11, 2008

I also love your guitar playing, and the bolero style -- and your singing too. If you have the lyrics easily on hand, it would great to read them even though my Spanish is pretty damn rusty.

I do love a good love song. Some cheese is pretty delicious, you know.
posted by melissa may at 3:10 PM on February 11, 2008

Cada una de esas pecas que            Each one of those freckles you
portas con altanería                  so altively bear
una noche más oscura                  in a much darker night 
fueron mis estrellas guía             were my guiding stars

Verónica escucha y créeme             Veronica listen to me and trust me
como no quisieras creer               just like you wouldn't do
que si para tí es extraño             you think this all is unlikely
para mí así había de ser              For me it's meant to be

México es tan sólo un puerto          Mexico is but a port
de barcos que yo imagino              of ships from my imagination
y mis imaginaciones                   And my imagined ravings
navegan siempre a destino             Always arrive at their destination                                   

Verónica escucha y créeme             Veronica listen to me and trust me
que yo no te sé mentir                I couldn't lie to you
en un barco imaginado                 In an imagined ship
tú y yo vamos a partir                you and I will set sail 

Cada una de las noches que            Each one of the nights
pase durmiendo a tu vera              That I may spend by your side  
será mi grande tesoro                 Will be my great treasure
cada una la primera                   each one will be the first

Verónica escucha y créeme             Veronica listen to me and trust me
esta vez más que ninguna              This time more than any other
si encontrarte fue mi suerte          if finding you was my luck
el tenerte es mi fortuna              having you is my fortune

Just because you asked, melissa may, lyrics and a terrible, quick translation. Of course, it's a bit better in Spanish, some things sound plain silly when they are translated.

sleepy pete: thanks a lot. But I would trade my guitar playing for your voice, songwriting or recording skills any day. And yeah, hopefully I'll mend the studio quickly enough. Perhaps I'll just have to bite the bullet, lose the current data and reformat the disk.

And Corduroy. Thanks a lot. It's always nice to get nice comments from someone whose music you like.
posted by micayetoca at 5:14 PM on February 11, 2008

Very nice guitar.
posted by tdismukes at 5:41 PM on February 11, 2008

Hey congrats micayetoca! This is great. I don't know if this is cheesy or not. Freckles as guiding stars sounds pretty sexy and suave to me. But anyway, this is fantastic and I'll be playing it the next time the wife and I have a candle-lit dinner together.
posted by snsranch at 6:30 PM on February 11, 2008

Really great. Love the guitar also. And those crazy rolling "r's", especially on "barcos." You're tongue must be exhausted.

sounds pretty sexy and suave to me
snsranch, between this and you throwing your virtual underwear at me in my last post, you're going to get some kind of groupie reputation. Kidding, I'm kidding.
posted by chococat at 6:58 PM on February 11, 2008

I love it.
posted by not_on_display at 7:47 PM on February 11, 2008

Freckles as guiding stars? I've got to go with snsranch here.

/fans self

And even my crap Spanish tells me that it your imagery is much more finely expressed in the original. Thanks very much for providing the lyrics. I'm singing along with you now, in my even worse accent.
posted by melissa may at 8:48 PM on February 11, 2008

Nice. I like the wordless, crooning section (starting at 1:20) and when it gets quiet again immediately thereafter.

So is this technically a bolero, or what?
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 9:03 PM on February 11, 2008

Very nice, mica.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:44 AM on February 12, 2008

Karlos, technically it's a Son Istmeño, of which La Petrona (played in this link by el Dueto de Tinito y Porfirio) is a fantastic example. So it's not bolero, but it's a not-so-distant relative.

And thank you all for the comments. The freckles and guiding stars thing came up because I met my girlfriend when I came to Venezuela for a vacation, so, when we were saying goodbye at the airport I was telling her I would find my way back, and she said something like "or you may end up lost somewhere else". To which I replied (and I know this is very, very cheesy) that if I lost my way back, her freckles would be my guiding stars. It worked. It took me six months, but I did come back. And yes, those six months were made up of much darker nights, and yes, her freckles were my guiding stars.

Sorry if this is too much information (or cheese).
posted by micayetoca at 5:29 AM on February 12, 2008

This is great, micayetoca. I really like your vocal performance here, it's sensitive yet confident. The guitar playing is excellent as well. Good stuff! Hope your recording situation gets fixed soon.
posted by edlundart at 10:50 PM on February 12, 2008