Bésame mucho

Genesis

Granados

In 1915 , the Catalan composer Enric Granados wrote an opera inspired by the paintings of Goya , Goyescas or Los Majos enamorados , Goyesques or The Young Lovers . The booklet is written in Spanish by Fernando Perriquet .

The first scene of the third and final painting of this opera is entitled The Beauty and the Nightingale , La Maja y el Ruiseñor ² . It evokes the love nostalgia of the heroine, Rosario, through a classic theme, Why is it the night that the nightingale sings its harmonious song … , Porqué entre sombras el ruiseñor entona su armonioso cantar … ³ The music is a rhapsody for mezzo-soprano from an earlier work for solo piano ⁴ , Quejas o la Maja y el Ruisenor , Lament or the Belle and the Nightingale .

This was inspired by the composer’s love for his wife, Amparo, and is the fourth piece of the first volume of the Goyesque . The ensemble was completed in December 1911 and produced in Pleyel on April 2, 1914 but the first four pieces were premiered on March 11, 1911 at the Palace of Catalan Music in Barcelona .

Consuelito

It is this operatic tune that in 1935 inspired the young pianist Consuelo Velasquez to draw a song. Student Early National Conservatory, she nineteen but a moral pregnant Catholic never allowed her again to exchange a single kiss ¹ . The girl has become accustomed since adolescence to making songs of popular style ⁵ and poses on the main theme of the rhapsody of Granados lyrics that are, to his regret, only pure imagination.

Four years later, she participated in the inauguration of the radio XEQ-AM  (es) ⁵ by hosting a program on classical music ¹ . The director of the station, Mariano Rivera, in love with the young woman, broadcasts the songs she composed ¹ . Bésame Mucho is a hit with the Mexican and Cuban public ¹ . The song is recorded in 1941 by Emilio Tuero  (es) and Chela Campos.

His evocation of an ultimate kiss, “as if it was the last time tonight” , in fact in the United States engaged in the war a tube ⁶ and the photogenic consuelito , adulated, is received in Hollywoodby Walt Disney ¹ but c is the translation into English , very unfaithful, made by Sunny Skylar  (in) and sung by Abe Lyman  (in) then by Andy Russell  (in) which makes the popular song. In 1944 , Kitty Kalen  (in) and Bob Eberly (in) , accompanied by the orchestra of Jimmy Dorsey , lead it to the first place on the air ⁷ week seven during ⁸ . The recording that Nat King Coledid in the same yearand in 1945 Tino Rossi a translation of Francis Blanche , assured him an international career.

Interpretations

Latin Music Performers

Some examples of Latin music include:

• Freddy
• Tito Puente
• Perez Prado
• Xavier Cugat
• Luis Miguel
• Lucho Gatica with Nelly Furtado
• Luz Casal

Great Tenors

Great tenors have also sung it:

• Luis Mariano
• Andrea Bocelli
• Luciano Pavarotti ,
• Plácido Domingo
• Mario Lanza
• Roberto Alagna

… and a deep Wagnerian bass: the Finn Matti Salminen .

Francophone Interpreters

The following Francophone singers interpreted it :

• Charles Aznavour
• Lili Boniche (In the years 1940-50)
• Isabelle Boulay
• Dany Brillant (Album Story of a Love , 2007 )
• Christophe ( Besame Mucho – Last kiss , 1984 )
• Dalida ( Besame Mucho – Kiss Me , 1976 )
• Corinne Sauvage (album Homage to Dalida , 2015 label LEPM)
• Arielle Dombasle
• Silvia Droste (Soundtrack of the movie Just Friends , 1993)
• Nino Ferrer
• Agnès Jaoui
• Marc Lavoine (album Mark Schultz , 2001 )
• Michel Louvain
• The Orientals (stenitek song)
• Diego Aguilar Bernal (1999, 2013, LEPM records)
• Guy Marchand
• Nicole Martin ( Cocktail Lounge album , 2012 ),
• Mireille Mathieu
• Dario Moreno
• Nana Mouskouri
• Edith Piaf
• Alys Robi (in the early 1940s )
• Tino Rossi
• Vincent Niclo ( Besame Mucho – Luis, 2013)
• Sylvie Rodriguez
• the band Suarez (album In balance , 2014)

Non-Francophone singers

The Beatles

This song was recorded three times by the British group The Beatles but officially released on the disc Anthology 1 that in 1995.

It is Paul McCartney who introduces the group to this song that goes from a minor tone to return to major, characteristic that pleases the young bassist. With a touch of humor, it has been played by the Beatles since 1961 on stage in Hamburg and Liverpool .

They recorded this song on 1 ^st January 1962 when they auditioned for Decca Records . Paul McCartney is on vocals and bass , John Lennon on rhythm guitar , George Harrisonon lead guitar, and Pete Best on drums . This version is still not included in the Anthology 1 disc ; we prefer the version that the band will re-record during their first session in the studios of the IMSJune 6 next. In addition, it will be recorded at the end of December on stage in Hamburg, this time with Ringo Starr behind the drums, and this version will be published in 1977 in a bootleg titled Live! at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 . Finally, we can see, in the documentary Anthology , the band playing this song in 1969 during the filming of Let It Be ⁹ .

Other versions

• IMT Smile  (en)
• The Eagles ,
• Sofia Rotaru ,
• Santana ,
• Omara Portuondo ,
• Connie Francis ,
• Jeane Manson ,
• João Gilberto ,
• Juan García Esquivel ,
• Andrea Bocelli ,
• Pavlo  (in) ,
• Bauchklang ,
• Cesária Évora
• Julio Iglesias ,
• Caetano Veloso ,
• Linda Ronstadt ,
• Dean Martin ,
• Placebo ,
• Chris Isaak ,
• Gadjo  (en) , dance version 2008,
• Götz Alsmann , in German in 2001 on the album Filmreif …
• Fairuz in 2017

Jazz Performers

The song has also become a jazz standard , interpreted inter alia by:

• Bill Evans ,
• Kenny G ,
• Frank Sinatra ,
• Josephine Baker ,
• Diana Krall ,
• Louis Armstrong ,
• Nat King Cole ,
• Michel Petrucciani ,
• Michel Legrand ,
• Herb Alpert ,
• Danny Aiello ,
• Dean Martin
• Dave Brubeck ,
• Jaki Byard ,
• Wes Montgomery ,
• Artie Shaw ,
• Julie London ,
• Stan Getz ,
• Dianne Reeves ,
• Etta James ,
• Michael Bublé ,
• Carmen McRae ,
• Art Pepper ( The Art Pepper Quartet , 1956)
• The Melody Four ( Nato Folks Songs label )
• Avishai Cohen ,
• Oscar Alemán ,
• Barney Wilen
• Engelbert Wrobel

Instrumental versions

Finally, let us mention some instrumental versions :

• On the mandolin guitar , by Amar Ezzahi ,
• On the accordion , by Aimable and Yvette Horner ,
• At the piano , by Richard Clayderman ,
• On the guitar , by Paco de Lucía ,
• On the electric bass , by Jet Harris ,
• At trombone by Ray Conniff ,
• Orchestrated by the Mobile Wounds

In the cinema

Mucho Béame serves as a sound illustration to many films:

• The Three Caballeros , 1944,
• Forward all!  (es) , 1951,
• Moscow does not believe in tears , 1979,
• Full Moon on Parador , 1988,
• Santa Sangre , 1989,
• Is there a cop to save the president? , 1991,
• Arizona Dream , 1993,
• Great expectations , 1998,
• In the Mood for Love , 2000,
• The Spell of Shanghai  (es) , 2002,
• The Smile of Mona Lisa , 2003,
• In good company , 2004,
• The Goat Festival  (es) , 2005,
• Paid , 2006,
• Juno , 2007,
• My life in cinemascope , 2009,
• Chico and Rita , 2010.

Resumption of the title

• Bésame Mucho , 1979-1982, Spanish comic magazine.
• Bésame mucho , 1993, Venezuelan Colombian film with Amparo Grisales (es) .
• Besame mucho , 1997, second song from the Pearls  (nl) album of the band BZN  (nl) , without further report.

Annexes

Sources