“Reminiscences” Lyrics
Style: Pasillo romance song from mid-20th century Ecuador about remembering a past lover. Pasillo is like Latin American bolero music (romantic lyrics) and European waltz (musical sound), but includes guitar, mandolin, and other string instruments in addition to piano. No one is better at romantic poetry than Julio Jaramillo.
Country: Ecuador
Listen: YouTube
Translation:
Amada, es imposible borrar de mi memoria,
Me persigue el recuerdo de tu extraño mirar,
Esa risa tan tuya, tus labios tentadores,
Que dejaron su encanto prendido en mi ansiedad.
Beloved, it is impossible to erase from my memory,
It pursues me, the memory of your strange gaze,
That laugh so yours, your lips so tempting,
Who left their enchantment aflame in my restless mind.
En mi alma vagabunda se fundió el alma tuya
Como el llano se funde cuando lo besa el sol.
Por eso aunque otros labios me dieron su ternura,
Ninguno como el tuyo llegó a mi corazón.
With my vagabond soul, your soul merged,
Just as the lowlands blend together when kissed by the sun.
That’s why though other lips have given me their tenderness,
None like yours has reached my heart.
Fueron los ojos tuyos, temas de mis canciones,
Fueron los labios tuyos, música en mi cantar,
Y ahora son tus ojos, mi pena y mis dolores,
Son esos labios tuyos, mi destino fatal.
It was those eyes of yours, themes of my songs,
It was those lips of yours, the music in my singing,
And now it is your eyes, my sorrows and my pains,
It is those lips of yours, my tragic destiny.
Dicen que con el tiempo los recuerdos se esfuman,
Se ahonda en el olvido lo que fue una pasión,
¡Mentira! Cuando mueras y bajas a mi tumba,
Verás que aún por ti arde la llama de mi amor.
They say that time makes memories fade away,
It sinks deeper into forget what was once passion,
Lies! When you die and come down to my tomb,
You’ll see that the fire of my love still burns for you.
En mi loca bohemia he amado a otras mujeres
Con la fe infinita del que quiere olvidar,
Más siempre me atormentan, tus ojos soñadores
Y nostálgicamente suspiro al evocar…
In my wild bohemian life I’ve loved other women
With the infinite faith of he who wants to forget,
Yet always they torment me, your dreamer eyes
And nostalgically I sigh as I recall…
Que de reminiscencias, hay en los sueños míos,
Crepúsculos enteros he llorado por ti,
Que aún están mis ojos del llanto humedecidos,
Evocando esas horas que aún viven en mí.
That those remembrances, they exist in my dreams,
Entire twilight eves I’ve cried for you,
That even now my eyes are wet from weeping,
Evoking those hours that live in me even now.
Translation Notes:
Esa risa tan tuya, tus labios tentadores,
Que dejaron su encanto prendido en mi ansiedad.
That laugh so yours, your lips so tempting,
Who left their enchantment aflame in my restless mind.
mi ansiedad = my anxiousness, my restlessness, my unsettled mind
En mi alma vagabunda se fundió el alma tuya
Como el llano se funde cuando lo besa el sol.
With my vagabond soul, your soul merged,
Just as the lowlands blend together when kissed by the sun.
fundir(se) (verb) = to melt (metal/wax/snow); to melt down (coins, jewelry); to smelt (metals); to cast (statues); to merge or to amalgamate (organizations, companies); to fuse (cultures)
The imagery is of a melting together of two souls, forever linked now, not able to be separated. Julio Jaramillo means that his soul is forever changed after meeting her and that he cannot cast her out of himself, as she is now a part of him. He indicates that this is a positive and beautiful change, evoking the imagery of sunrise and the advancing sunlight illuminating grasslands.
Y ahora son tus ojos, mi pena y mis dolores,
Son esos labios tuyos, mi destino fatal.
And now it is your eyes, my sorrows and my pains,
It is those lips of yours, my tragic destiny.
The word fatal in Spanish means “inevitable, fated” or “awful, terrible”. I combined these meanings to “tragic”. Julio Jaramillo is no longer with this lover, but his mind continues to wander to her, remember her, miss her.
Dicen que con el tiempo los recuerdos se esfuman…
They say that time makes memories fade away…
They say that with time, memories fade away…
This line evokes a specific type of fading away, inviting the listener to think of how smoke (el humo) dissipates and vanishes.
¡Mentira! Cuando mueras y bajas a mi tumba,
Verás que aún por ti arde la llama de mi amor.
Lies! When you die and come down to my tomb,
You’ll see that the fire of my love still burns for you.
Julio Jaramillo says that even when they both die, the fire of his passion of her will remain alive and she will be able to see it in the afterlife.
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