Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002) often simply know… Read Full Bio ↴Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002) often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. Esquivel is sometimes called "The King of Space Age Pop" and "The Busby Berkeley of Cocktail Music." Esquivel is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known (in retrospect) as "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".

He was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, and his family moved to Mexico City in 1928 where he became a self-taught musician from an early age. In interviews, Esquivel's family members have stated that the young boy started playing piano when he was around 6 years old, to the amazement of older musicians who would gather around him in disbelief and to his own delight exhibiting his musical gifts. They have also stated that Esquivel continued to eschew formal musical training as he grew older, preferring to learn from books and by listening to and playing music instead.

Esquivel is considered the king of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop known today as lounge music. Esquivel's musical style was highly idiosyncratic, and although elements sound like his contemporaries, many stylistic traits distinguished his music and made it instantly recognizable, including exotic percussion, wordless vocals, virtuoso piano runs, and exaggerated dynamic shifts. He used many jazz-like elements; however, other than his piano solos, there is no improvisation, and the works are tightly, meticulously arranged by Esquivel himself, who considered himself a perfectionist as a composer, performer, and recording artist.

His orchestration tended toward the very lush, employing novel instrumental combinations, such as Chinese bells, mariachi bands, whistling, and numerous percussion instruments, blended with orchestra, mixed chorus, and his own heavily-ornamented piano style. The chorus was often called upon to sing only nonsense syllables, most famously "zu-zu" and "pow!" A survey of Esquivel's recordings reveals a fondness for glissandi, sometimes on a half-valved trumpet, sometimes on a kettle drum, but most frequently on pitched percussion instruments and slide guitars.

Esquivel's use of stereo recording was legendary, occasionally featuring two bands recording simultaneously in separate studios, such as on his album Latin-Esque (1962). The song "Mucha Muchacha" makes particularly mind-bending use of the separation, with the chorus and brass rapidly alternating stereo sides.

He arranged many traditional Mexican songs like "Bésame Mucho", "La Bamba", "El Manisero" (Cuban/Mexican) and "La Bikina"; covered Brazilian songs like "Aquarela do Brasil" (also known simply as "Brazil") by Ary Barroso, "Surfboard" and "Agua de Beber" by Tom Jobim, and composed spicy lounge-like novelties such as "Mini Skirt", "Yeyo", "Latin-Esque", "Mucha Muchacha" and "Whatchamacallit". He was commissioned to compose the music of a Mexican children's TV show Odisea Burbujas.

His concerts featured elaborate light shows years before such effects became popular in live music. He performed in Las Vegas on several occasions, often as the opening act for Frank Sinatra. He frequently performed at the STARDUST casino lounge during ca. 1964.

Several compilations of Esquivel's music were issued starting with Space Age Bachelor Pad Music in 1994. The apparent success of these releases led to reissues of several of Esquivel's albums. The first reissues were compiled by Irwin Chusid, who also produced the first CD reissues of Raymond Scott and The Langley Schools Music Project.

The last recording on which Esquivel worked was Merry Christmas from the Space-Age Bachelor Pad in 1996, for which he did a voiceover on a track by the band Combustible Edison. This album also included several obscure tracks from his past sessions. The last CD released during his lifetime, See It In Sound, was actually recorded in 1960, but was not released at the time because the record company believed it would not be commercially successful. When released in 1998, it exhibited very unusual and introspective stylings absent from his other works, including a version of "Brazil", played as a musical soundscape of a man bar-hopping where the band plays different renditions of "Brazil" at each bar.

Esquivel also worked as composer for Revue Productions/Universal Television. There he scored the TV western series "The Tall Man," and co-wrote, with Stanley Wilson, the familiar Revue/Universal TV logo fanfare.

boulevard of broken dreams
Esquivel and His Orchestra Lyrics

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I walk along the street of sorrow
The boulevard of broken dreams
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams

You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow
When you behold your shattered schemes

Gigolo and gigolette
Wake up to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams

Here is where you'll always find me
Always walking up and down
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town

The joy that you find here you borrow
You cannot keep it long it seems
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams

Here is where you'll always find me
Always walking up and down
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town

The joy that you find here you borrow
You cannot keep it long it seems
But gigolo and gigolette

Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Esquivel and His Orchestra's song Boulevard of Broken Dreams paint a vivid picture of a somber street filled with broken dreams. The singer talks about walking down the "street of sorrow" and the "boulevard of broken dreams," where people can take kisses without regret, but ultimately they forget about their shattered dreams. The lyrics go on to suggest that the gigolos and gigolettes of the street may laugh tonight but cry tomorrow, as they wake up with wet eyes, shedding tears that tell of their shattered dreams.

The singer bemoans the transitory nature of happiness on this boulevard and how the "joy that you find here you borrow," only to discover that you cannot keep it long. However, despite their broken dreams and lives, the gigolos and gigolettes of the street still "sing a song and dance along the boulevard of broken dreams."

The song is a poignant reminder of the struggles and disappointments of life and how we often find ourselves on the boulevards of broken dreams. It suggests that, despite our shattered dreams and disappointments, we must continue to sing, dance, and live, even when life is at its most challenging.

Line by Line Meaning

I walk along the street of sorrow
I am wandering down the sad path of life

The boulevard of broken dreams
Where people who are lost and hopeless come

Where gigolo and gigolette
Men and women who sell their love

Can take a kiss without regret
They try to find joy in fleeting moments

So they forget their broken dreams
To escape the sad reality of their unfulfilled dreams

You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow
You might feel happy now, but nothing lasts forever

When you behold your shattered schemes
When you realize your plans have fallen apart

Wake up to find their eyes are wet
They finally confront the truth and cry

With tears that tell of broken dreams
Those tears reveal the depth of their sadness

Here is where you'll always find me
I am lost and wandering

Always walking up and down
I keep searching for something that I cannot find