Compay Segundo
compay segundo, “Y tu que has Hecho?” {and you, what have you done?)
from: buena vista social club, 1997
How can anyone sing with such flat out ease ? Maybe you just have to be really old and let all of your self -consciousness and defenses go shove. What the hell. He descends into emotional depths without breaking a sweat. I bet Compay has perfect teeth with a cigar in his mouth when he sleeps. The other vocalist is not identified, unless they double-voice-tracked his nibs. And that’s Ry Cooder on guitar, who got fined by the U.S. Government 25 k for breaking travel restrictions to an outlaw country in the making of this shiny beast. Check the lyrics too. What a plot!
“En el tronco de un árbol una niña
Grabó su nombre henchida de placer
Y el árbol conmovido allá en su seno
A la niña una flor dejó caer
Yo soy el árbol conmovido y triste
Tu eres la niña que mi tronco hirió
Yo guardo siempre tu querido nombre
¿y tú qué has hecho de mi pobre flor?
En el tronco de un árbol una niña
Grabó su nombre henchida de placer
Y el árbol conmovido allá en su seno
A la niña una flor dejó caer
Yo soy el árbol conmovido y triste
Tu eres la niña que mi tronco hirió
Yo guardo siempre tu querido nombre
¿Y tú qué has hecho de mi pobre flor?
And You, What Have You Done?
On the trunk of a tree, a young girl
Filled with joy, carved out her name
The tree, touched to the core
Let a flower drop down to the girl.
I am the tree sad and moved
You are the girl who wounded my bark
I will always treasure your beloved name
And you, what have you done with my poor flower?”
Compay’s tomb in Havana
“At a fiesta he sang to President Fidel Castro, who took his pulse and joked about his vitality despite his 90-plus years. "Who could have imagined that?" he asked when he found himself at the Vatican City performing "Chan Chan" before Pope John Paul II. He explained his longevity simply:mutton consommé and a drink of rum. Compay bragged he would live to 115 but regrettably passed @ 95!”
-the wikulator-