Llegó a ser un popular compositor e intérprete, muy conocido entre los amantes de la música cubana. Comenzó tocando la guitarra, el clarinete y el bongó. Fue el inventor del armónico, un instrumento de siete cuerdas, entre la guitarra española y el tres cubano. También tocó la tumbadora.
Comenzó su carrera musical muy joven cuando compuso sus primeras canciones y tocaba en grupos de Santiago con su conocido armónico. Pero su fama internacional le llegó en 1997 con su participación en el disco Buena Vista Social Club, el cual ganó varios premios Grammy. Compay Segundo apareció también en la película del mismo nombre realizada posteriormente por Wim Wenders.
En los últimos años actuó ante millones de espectadores y grabó nueve discos. No pudo cumplir su sueño de llegar a la edad de 116 años, en la cual murió su abuela. Falleció en La Habana debido a una insuficiencia renal con 95 años.
La canción más importante de Compay Segundo es "Chan Chan".
--
Compay Segundo (November 18, 1907 – July 13, 2003), was a Cuban musician and songwriter.
Segundo was born Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz and brought up in the city of Santiago de Cuba. He became a songwriter and performer, well-known to fans of Cuban music. He was also the inventor of the armónico, a seven-stringed guitar-like instrument.
In his early years he played the guitar, the clarinet and the bongos. He also played the congas.
His curious stage name derives from the fact that he played second voice in a popular duet of the 1950s called Los Compadres (compadre, or compay for short, in Cuba means "baptism brother", but as a colloquialism is used also to designate a good friend).
However, international fame only came in 1997 with the release of the Buena Vista Social Club album, a hugely successful recording which won several Grammy awards. Compay Segundo appeared in the film of the same title, made subsequently by Wim Wenders.
His most famous composition is "Chan Chan", the opening track on the Buena Vista Social Club album, whose four opening chords are instantly recognizable all over the world. "Chan Chan" was recorded by Segundo himself various times as well as by countless other Latin artists.
At a fiesta he sang to Presidente 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.
He predicted that he would live to be 115, but died of kidney failure in Havana, twenty years short of his ambition, and three days before Celia Cruz.
Lagrimas Negras
Compay Segundo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Aunque tú has muerto todas mis ilusiones
En vez de maldecirte con justo encono
Y en mis sueños te colmo
Y en mis sueños te colmo
De bendiciones
Sufro la inmensa pena de tu extravío
Y lloro sin que sepas que el llanto mío
Tiene lágrimas negras
Tiene lágrimas negras
Como mi vida
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Un jardinero de amor, siembra una flor y se va
Otro viene y la cultiva, ¿de cuál de los dos será?
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Amada prenda querida
No puedo vivir sin verte
Porque mi fin es quererte
Y amarte toda la vida
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Yo te lo digo mi amor
Te lo repito otra vez
Contigo me voy mi santa
Porque contigo moriré
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Yo te lo digo mi amor
Que contigo moriré
Contigo me voy mi santa
Te lo repito otra vez
Tú me quieres dejar
Yo no quiero sufrir
Contigo me voy mi santa
Aunque me cueste morir
Compay Segundo's song "Lágrimas Negras" is a sorrowful lamentation of lost love. The lyrics are a representation of a person who has been abandoned by their lover and has lost all hope. The singer expresses their deepest pain through their words, disclosing how their lover has caused them to suffer immensely. Instead of hating their lover, the singer expresses their love for them, even though they can't be together. The black tears represent the grief that fills the singer's life now that their lover has gone.
The singer is constantly being reminded of what they lost, and the profound sorrow that they feel causes them to cry black tears. These tears represent a deep pain that cannot be cured, a sorrow that is part of the singer's life. The song's lyrics show the singer's love for their partner, and how that love is the only thing that sustains them.
The song ends with the singer's declaration that they will follow their lover despite the suffering it will cause them. The singer's love is so strong that they are willing to risk everything, even their own life, to be with their lover. The song is a beautiful and poignant expression of love, loss, and grief.
Line by Line Meaning
Aunque tú me has echado en el abandono
Although you have left me in abandonment
Aunque tú has muerto todas mis ilusiones
Although you have killed all my dreams
En vez de maldecirte con justo encono
Instead of cursing you with rightful anger
Y en mis sueños te colmo de bendiciones
And in my dreams, I shower you with blessings
Sufro la inmensa pena de tu extravío
I suffer immense grief from losing you
Siento el dolor profundo de tu partida
I feel the deep pain of your departure
Y lloro sin que sepas que el llanto mío
And I cry without you knowing that my tears
Tiene lágrimas negras como mi vida
Are black tears, just like my life
Tú me quieres dejar
You want to leave me
Yo no quiero sufrir
I don't want to suffer
Contigo me voy mi santa
I'm going with you, my saint
Aunque me cueste morir
Even if it costs me my life
Un jardinero de amor, siembra una flor y se va
A gardener of love plants a flower and leaves
Otro viene y la cultiva, ¿de cuál de los dos será?
Another comes and nurtures it, which one of them will it belong to?
Amada prenda querida
Beloved and dear one
No puedo vivir sin verte
I can't live without seeing you
Porque mi fin es quererte
Because my ultimate goal is to love you
Y amarte toda la vida
And to love you for my entire life
Yo te lo digo mi amor
I tell you, my love
Te lo repito otra vez
I repeat it once again
Porque contigo moriré
Because I will die with you
Lyrics © DistroKid, Unison Rights S.L., Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Miguel Matamoros
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind