Leonardo " Flaco" Jiménez began performing, at the age of seven, with his father, Santiago Jimenez, who was a pioneer of conjunto music and began recording at age fifteen as a member of Los Caporales. He played in the San Antonio area for several years, and then began working with Douglas Sahm in the 1960s. Sahm, better known as the founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet, played with Jiménez for some time. Flaco then went on to New York City and worked with Dr. John, David Lindley, Peter Rowan, Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan. He appeared on Cooder's world music album Chicken Skin Music and on the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge. This led to greater awareness of his music outside America and, after touring Europe with Ry Cooder, he returned to tour in America with his own band, and on a joint bill with Peter Rowan. Jiménez, Peter Rowan and Wally Drogos were the original members of a band called The Free Mexican Airforce.
Jiménez won a Grammy Award in 1986 for Ay Te Dejo en San Antonio, one of his father's songs. He was also a member of the Tejano fusion group Texas Tornados, with Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender. The Texas Tornados won a Grammy Award in 1990, and Jiménez earned one on his own in 1996, when his self-titled album Flaco Jiménez won the Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Performance. In 1999, Flaco earned another Grammy Award for Best Tejano Performance for Said and Done (released by Barbed Wire Records), and one for Best Mexican-American Performance as a part of supergroup Los Super Seven. Jiménez has also won a Best Video award at the Tejano Music Awards and earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from Billboard Latin Magazine for "Streets of Bakersfield" with Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens.
Jiménez appeared in the movie Picking Up the Pieces, with Woody Allen and Sharon Stone, and also featured on the soundtrack. His music has featured in the soundtrack for other movies such as Y Tu Mamá También, The Border, Tin Cup, and Striptease. The Hohner company collaborated with Jiménez to create the Flaco Jimenez Signature Series of accordions.
His brother, Santiago Jiménez, Jr., is also an accomplished accordionist who has recorded extensively.
Jiménez's latest CD, Ya Volvi De La Guerra, was issued in 2009 by Fiesta Records.
El Puente Roto
Flaco Jimenez Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Te abrazaba allá en el puente
Y nos quisimos de un jalón.
Y en las tardes tan serenas
Por las verdes arboledas
Me robaste el corazón.
Ya no supe donde andabas
Y todito se acabo.
Para colmo de mi suerte
Fue creciendo la corriente
Y hasta el puente se rompió.
El puente roto le llamo yo
A tu cariño que se rajo
Así dejaste a mi corazón
Hecho pedazos con tu traición.
Ahora con el puente roto
Abrazada con el otro
Ni te acuerdas de mi amor
Porque asi son las mujeres
Cuando el hombre mas las quiere
No comprenden la razon.
El puente roto le llamo yo
A tu cariño que se rajo
Así dejaste a mi corazón
Hecho pedazos con tu traición
Ahora con el puente roto
Abrazada con el otro
Ni te acuerdas de mi amor
Porque así son las mujeres
Cuando el hombre mas las quiere
No comprenden la razon.
"El Puente Roto" is a song by Flaco Jimenez that tells the story of a past love that has ended. The first verse talks about holding and loving the person he was with on the bridge, and how their love happened all at once. The second verse mentions how she stole his heart under the green trees. However, times became tough with the arrival of flooding rains, and he did not know where she went, and eventually, their love faded away. The chorus explains that the bridge between them broke after her betrayal, leaving his heart shattered. He says that she has moved on, holding someone else on that same bridge where they once stood. He concludes that he understands that this is just how women are, and they don't always understand why men love them as much as they do.
The song revolves around the metaphor of a bridge and its destruction representing the end of a relationship. The verses reflect emotions such as love, passion, heartbreak, and betrayal. The lyrics are relatable to many who have experienced the same feelings in a romantic relationship. Moreover, the song is a prime example of the Mexican musical style of Conjunto, which originated in South Texas and blends together accordion and bajo sexto sounds.
Line by Line Meaning
Cuando yo supe quererte
When I knew how to love you
Te abrazaba allá en el puente
I hugged you there on the bridge
Y nos quisimos de un jalón.
And we loved each other right away.
Y en las tardes tan serenas
And in such calm afternoons
Por las verdes arboledas
Among the green trees
Me robaste el corazón.
You stole my heart.
Luego vino el tiempo de aguas
Then came the rainy season
Ya no supe donde andabas
And I didn't know where you went
Y todito se acabo.
And it all ended.
Para colmo de mi suerte
To make matters worse
Fue creciendo la corriente
The current kept rising
Y hasta el puente se rompió.
And even the bridge broke.
El puente roto le llamo yo
I call it the broken bridge
A tu cariño que se rajo
To your affection that shattered
Así dejaste a mi corazón
That's how you left my heart
Hecho pedazos con tu traición.
Shattered by your betrayal.
Ahora con el puente roto
Now with the broken bridge
Abrazada con el otro
Embraced by another
Ni te acuerdas de mi amor.
You don't even remember my love.
Porque asi son las mujeres
Because that's how women are
Cuando el hombre mas las quiere
When men love them the most
No comprenden la razon.
They don't understand the reason.
El puente roto le llamo yo
I call it the broken bridge
A tu cariño que se rajo
To your affection that shattered
Así dejaste a mi corazón
That's how you left my heart
Hecho pedazos con tu traición.
Shattered by your betrayal.
Ahora con el puente roto
Now with the broken bridge
Abrazada con el otro
Embraced by another
Ni te acuerdas de mi amor.
You don't even remember my love.
Porque así son las mujeres
Because that's how women are
Cuando el hombre mas las quiere
When men love them the most
No comprenden la razon.
They don't understand the reason.
Writer(s): Victor Cordero Aurrecoechea
Contributed by Aaliyah I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.