Last Kiss... not really

The music from the United States has influenced music in Mexico for more that 40 years.
One of the songs that has been re-recorded by different artists is "The Last Kiss." The song was written by Wayne Cochran in 1962 and recorded by him. Years later other artists recorded the song, including J Frank and the Cavaliers and Pearl Jam.

The song was also recorded in Spanish by groups such as Los Doltons, and Alci Acosta.

The story is the same in all the songs, English and Spanish. A man is driving fast with his girlfriend by his side. He was not able to see the road so he crashes. He comes out of the accident OK, but his girlfriend dies, asking her boyfriend for one last kiss. Now the man is on a mission to be a good person so he can go to heaven, where his dearest has gone.

It has a good message of being careful when driven, or your passenger will die, so why not redo this song over and over and over, to spread the word?

Here is the original version by Wayne Cochran:



Here are a few examples of the different versions:
Pearl Jam


Los Doltons


Alci Acosta

I rather be dead

The song "Antes muerta que sencilla” meaning "I rather be dead than plain” was first sung by Maria Isabel in 2004, when she was 9 years old.

Maria Isabel is from Spain, giving her songs that Spanish accent and, as demonstrated in this song, she incorporates flamenco, which is a typical Spanish influence.

Maria Isabel sings of looking up to the style of movie stars and other celebrities. It is a very understanding point of view of an easily influenced girl who likes to play dress up.

Los Horoscopos de Durango is a duranguense group that many times takes from other known artists’ songs and changes the song to fit the style of the genre they sing to.

Here, the group takes a song from a 9 year-old and make it a serious song that talks about the needs for women to always look attractive, and rather be dead than not look glamorous. In most of the scenes the women interpreting this song look very serious and in serious need of fun, as oppose to Maria Isabel who uses her youth to live up the song and makes it fun.

Los Horoscopos make a small recognition to the origin of the song in the beginning where they sample the sound of flamenco music.

Maria Isabel

Los Horoscopos de Durango

Modugno and Clave... crying men

Many songs are developed and reinvented over and over, in different languages, with different lyrics and sometimes a different style.

Here I would like to give you the original song and the other version. I’m only going to focus on Spanish songs though because I think I know enough older songs than in English.

Lets take this song called “Piange il telefono” (Cries the phone (?)) by Domenico Modugno who recorded the song with his a little girl Francesca Guadagno, in 1973.



Lyrics: http://www.italianissima.net/testi/piangeil.htm

Guadagno, now works as a voice over for movies translated from English to Italian.

The song was re-recorded in 1981 by an Argentinean singer King Clave titling the song “Mi Corazon Lloro” (My heart cries). Ignore the picture in the video, the man has nothing to do with the song.



Lyrics: http://www.planetadeletras.com/index.php?m=s&lid=101945

The story of the song is the same basic one: a man calls a woman and a little boy or girl answers the phone instead. The singer is the estranged father of the child that answers and has a small conversation while the caller waits for the woman to answer the phone, but never does. The caller cries when he hears the voice of his child.
Great song, fill with emotion no matter what language... if you understand it.