Born in Lisbon, Portugal, official documents have her date of birth as the 23rd July, but Rodrigues always said her birthday was the 1st July 1920. She was born in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), freguesia of Pena, Lisbon. Her father was a trumpet player and cobbler from Fundão who returned there when Amália was just over a year old, leaving her to live in Lisbon with her maternal grandmother in a deeply Catholic environment until she was fourteen, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.
She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado"), and was most influential in popularising fado worldwide. She was unquestionably the most important figure in the genre’s development, by virtue of an innate interpretive talent carefully nurtured throughout a forty-year recording and stage career. Rodrigues' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado’s boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Rodrigues wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female singer - or fadista - should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards.
After a few years of amateur performances, Rodrigues’ first professional engagement in a fado venue took place in 1939, and she quickly became a regular guest star in stage revues. There she met Frederico Valério, a classically-trained composer who, recognising the potential in such a voice, wrote expansive melodies custom-designed for Rodrigues’ voice, breaking the rules of fado by adding orchestral accompaniment.
Her Portuguese popularity began to extend abroad with trips to Spain, a lengthy stay in Brazil (where, in 1945, she made her first recordings on Brazilian label Continental) and Paris (in 1949). In 1950, while performing at the Marshall Plan international benefit shows, she introduced "April in Portugal" to international audiences (under its original title "Coimbra"). In the early fifties, the patronage of the acclaimed Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira marked the beginning of a new phase; Rodrigues sang many of the country's greatest poets, and some wrote lyrics specifically for her.
In 1954, Rodrigues' international career skyrocketed through her presence in Henri Verneuil’s film The Lovers of Lisbon, where she had a supporting role and performed on-screen. By the late 1950s the USA, England, and France had become her major international markets (Japan and Italy followed in the 1970s); in France especially, her popularity rivalled her Portuguese success, and she graduated to headliner at the prestigious Olympia theatre within a matter of months. Over the years, she performed nearly all over the world, going as far as the Soviet Union and Israel.
At the end of the 1950s, Rodrigues took a year off. She returned in 1962 with a richer voice, concentrating on recording and performing live at a slower pace. Her comeback album, 1962's Amália Rodrigues, was her first collaboration with French composer Alain Oulman, her main songwriter and musical producer throughout the decade. As Valério had before him, Oulman wrote melodies for her that transcended the conventions of fado. Rodrigues did not shy away from controversy: her performance in Carlos Vilardebó’s 1964 arthouse film The Enchanted Islands was better received than the film, based on a short story by Herman Melville, and her 1965 recording of poems by 16th century poet Luís de Camões generated acres of newspaper polemics. Yet her popularity remained untouched. Her 1968 single "Vou Dar de Beber à Dor" broke all sales records, and her 1970 album Com que Voz, considered by many her definitive recording, won a number of international awards.
During the 1970s, Rodrigues concentrated on live work, and embarked upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. During the frenetic period after the 25th April 1974 she was falsely accused of being a covert agent of the PIDE, causing some trauma to her public life and career. (In fact, during the Salazar years, Rodrigues had been an occasional financial supporter of some communists in need.) Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with Cantigas numa Língua Antiga was received as a triumph. The 1980s and 1990s brought her enthronement as a living legend. Her last all-new studio recording, Lágrima, was released in 1983. It was followed by a series of previously lost or unreleased recordings, and the smash success of two greatest hits collections that sold over 200,000 copies combined.
Despite a series of illnesses involving her voice, Rodrigues continued recording as late as 1990. She eventually retreated from public performance, although her career gained in stature with an official biography by historian and journalist Vítor Pavão dos Santos, and a five-hour television series documenting her fifty-year career, featuring rare archival footage (later distilled into the ninety-minute film documentary, The Art of Amália). Its director, Bruno de Almeida, has also produced Amália, Live in New York City (a concert film of her 1990 performance at New York City Hall).
Rodrigues died on the 6th October 1999 at the age of seventy-nine in her home in Lisbon. Portugal's government promptly declared a period of national mourning. Her house (in Rua de São Bento) is now a museum. She is now buried at the National Pantheon alongside other Portuguese notables.
1946.
Fallaste Corazón
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Y tú nunca fuiste capaz de perdonar
Y cruel y despiadado de todo te reías
Hoy imploras cariño aunque sea por piedad
A donde está el
Orgullo a donde está el coraje
Porqué hoy que estás vencido mendigas caridad
Hoy que estás acabado que lástima me das
Maldito corazón me alegro que ahora sufras
Que llores y te humilles ante este gran amor
La vida es la ruleta en que apostamos todos
Y a tí te había tocado nomás la de ganar
Pero hoy tú buena suerte la
Espalda te ha volteado
Fallaste corazón, no vuelvas a apostar
Maldito corazón, me alegro que ahora sufras
Que llores y que te humilles
Ante este gran amor
La vida es la ruleta en que apostamos todos
Y a tí te había tocado nomás la de ganar
Pero hoy tú buena suerte la
Espalda te ha volteado
Fallaste corazón, no vuelvas a apostar
Maldito corazón me alegro que ahora sufras
Que llores y te humilles ante este gran amor
La vida es la ruleta en que apostamos todos
Y a tí te había tocado nomás la de ganar
Pero hoy tú buena suerte la
Espalda te ha volteado
Fallaste corazón, no vuelvas a apostar
The lyrics to "Fallaste Corazón" by Amália Rodrigues convey a sense of vindication and triumph over a heart that once thought it was invincible. The song addresses someone who believed they were the king of the world but was never capable of forgiveness. The singer describes their cruelty and laughter at the expense of others, but now they beg for love, even if it's out of pity. The lyrics question where their pride and courage are now that they are defeated and seeking charity. The singer points out that loving someone is not the same as being loved, and now that they are finished, they elicit pity.
The song takes delight in the suffering of this once arrogantly confident heart, expressing joy in their tears and humbleness before a greater love. The lyrics compare life to a roulette game, where everyone takes a chance, but the singer claims that this heart had only won thus far. However, now their luck has turned against them, and the song warns them to never gamble again.
"Fallaste Corazón" captures the theme of poetic justice and the poetic exploration of emotions that Amália Rodrigues was known for. It showcases her expressive vocal style and ability to convey the depth of emotion through song.
Line by Line Meaning
Y tú que te creías el rey de todo el mundo
And you, who believed you were the king of the world
Y tú nunca fuiste capaz de perdonar
And you were never capable of forgiving
Y cruel y despiadado de todo te reías
And cruel and merciless, you laughed at everything
Hoy imploras cariño aunque sea por piedad
Today you beg for affection, even if it's out of pity
A donde está el Orgullo a donde está el coraje
Where is the pride, where is the courage
Porqué hoy que estás vencido mendigas caridad
Because today, when you are defeated, you beg for charity
Ya vez que no es lo mismo amar que ser amado
You see, it's not the same to love than to be loved
Hoy que estás acabado que lástima me das
Today, when you are finished, what a pity you are
Maldito corazón me alegro que ahora sufras
Cursed heart, I'm glad you suffer now
Que llores y te humilles ante este gran amor
That you cry and humble yourself before this great love
La vida es la ruleta en que apostamos todos
Life is the roulette wheel where we all gamble
Y a tí te había tocado nomás la de ganar
And for you, it had only come to win
Pero hoy tú buena suerte la espalda te ha volteado
But today, your good luck has turned its back on you
Fallaste corazón, no vuelvas a apostar
You failed, heart, don't gamble again
Maldito corazón, me alegro que ahora sufras
Cursed heart, I'm glad you suffer now
Que llores y que te humilles ante este gran amor
That you cry and humble yourself before this great love
La vida es la ruleta en que apostamos todos
Life is the roulette wheel where we all gamble
Y a tí te había tocado nomás la de ganar
And for you, it had only come to win
Pero hoy tú buena suerte la espalda te ha volteado
But today, your good luck has turned its back on you
Fallaste corazón, no vuelvas a apostar
You failed, heart, don't gamble again
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
J R
Hermosa voz de Amalia !! Gran interpretación esta ranchera mexicana. VIva Portugal y viva México ;)
Elle HVS
Most beautiful fado ever and only by Amalia! No one else can Fallaste Corazon like she does!!
Nenis Guevara Gómez
La Reina del Fado cantando una canción ranchera como los ángeles, gracias a Dios por hacerme encontrar esa joya!!!! Viva México!!! Viva Portugal!!!
Máximo Mainar
Amália, Rainha do fado.
Enal
¡Qué maravilla de versión! La música es una sola cuando estamos ante la presencia de una gran cantante y de una gran canción. Esta ranchera cantada a ritmo de fado por Amalia Rodrigues, la más grande , es la prueba.
BIANCA
Magnífica ❤️
Salvatore Marrari
Grande Amalia...non la dimenticheremo mai !
manuelaantonio abreu
Amália cantava tudo eterna
Nicole Adrians
magnifique grande Amalia!
Cristal Pimentel
Que hermosa via la de amalia💗