Catalan singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat got involved in music at the age of 17, when he got his first guitar, to which he dedicates one of his earliest songs, "Una guitarra."
In early 60's the young artist participated in a pop band playing along with classmates at Barcelona's Agronomy School, doing mainly Beatles stuff and Italian 'pop-of-the-era' songs translated to Spanish.
In 1965, while singing in a radio show called Radioscope, host Salvador Escanilla helped him to get a record deal with local label Edigsa where he recorded his first EP, as well as became part of Els Setze Jutges, a group of Catalan artists aiming to promote a renaissance of Catalan culture after Spanish Franco's dictatorship and make it spread into popular classes.
Joan Manuel Serrat's first live stage performance in 1967 at the Catalan Music Palace, established definitely his name as one of the most important artists inside the 'Nova cançó' ('New Song') movement in Catalonia.
Next year, Spain originally entered Serrat in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 to sing "La, la, la", but he asked to sing it in Catalan, to which the Spanish authorities would not agree. This would be the first time he came into conflict with the language politics of Francoist Spain, because of his decision to sing in his native Catalan language, repressed by Franco. After the incident, Serrat was hurriedly substituted by Massiel, who won the contest with her Spanish-language version. By that time Serrat's songs were banned and his records burned in the streets. He then traveled to South America and participated in the Rio de Janeiro's World Music Festival, where he took first place with the song "Penélope."
In 1969 Serrat released an album containing songs with texts of Antonio Machado, a well known Spanish poet of late 19th-early 20th century. This album gave him immediate fame in all Spain and Latin America though, in spite of this, his decission to sing in Spanish was still criticized in some nationalistic Catalan circles.
The release of 1971's Mediterráneo LP consolidated the artist worldwide. In 1976, Joan Manuel Serrat was acclaimed for the first time in the U.S.A. while performing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
In late 1974, Serrat was exiled in Mexico due to his condemnation of arbitrary executions under Franco's regime. It wasn't until Franco's death (November 20, 1975) that Serrat was able to return to his homeland.
In January of 1995, the Spanish government gave him a medal for his contribution to the Hispanic culture. That same year, a tribute album called Serrat, Eres único was made to honor his career, featuring artists such as Diego Torres, Ketama, Rosario (Flores), Joaquín Sabina, and Antonio Flores. In the year 2000, the Spanish Association of Authors and Editors (SGAE) awarded him with one of ten Medals of the Century.
In October 2004 he revealed that he had been undergoing treatment for cancer of the bladder and in November that year he cancelled a tour of Latin America and the USA in order to undergo surgery in Barcelona, where he still lives. By that time, his wonderful song "Mediterráneo" was selected as the most important song of the 20th century in Spain.
His recovery was satisfactory, and in 2005 he went on a tour again ("Serrat 100×100") around Spain and Latin America with his lifelong producer and arranger, Ricard Miralles.
A second volume of Serrat, eres único was also released this year, featuring Alejandro Sanz, Estopa, and Pasión+Vega. Around the same time, Cuban artists such as Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés, Chucho Valdez, and Ibrahim Ferrer came together to make another tribute CD, Cuba le canta a Serrat.
Source: Wikipedia®
La Casita Blanca
Joan Manuel Serrat Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Amable y romántico,
El amor fue amo y señor
Y hoy bajo su alero
No anidan más pájaros
Que las palomas donde da el sol.
Quizá le llamaban La Casita Blanca
O quizá porque
El amor furtivo
Tiene ojos de amigo
Y pluma de poeta
Y en sus pasillos
Extravió unos calzoncillos.
Cuidó gentilmente
Y por un precio módico
Aquel desliz madrugador,
Cuando ella con la compra
Y usted con el periódico
Desayunaban incierto amor
O cuando una boca murmuró al oído
El lenguaje tibio de la ropa blanca.
Cuando los bolsillos
Rebosaban besos.
La Casita Blanca
Le proporcionaba
"algo" discreto
Donde encerrar un secreto.
Un mundo de espejos
A media luz pálida
Y un perfume familiar
Que se acurrucan contra
La puerta metálica
Que ha clausurado la autoridad.
Los vecinos hablan... Las brujas retozan...
Y un par de pichones huye al descampado
Y un viejo ex-cliente,
Pura sensatez,
Hace bloques de
Pisos amueblados
En un tono rosa.
Pero aquello era otra cosa.
In "La Casita Blanca," Joan Manuel Serrat paints a vivid picture of a small love nest - a place where illicit love can flourish away from the prying eyes of society. The lyrics describe a beautiful and romantic watering hole where love was the master and ruler of all things. However, today, the only birds that remain under its tender wing are doves that come to bask in the sun.
Perhaps, it was called La Casita Blanca because it had a terrace of an unsteady sheet, or maybe it was because the furtive love had the eyes of a friend and the quill of a poet. The song goes on to describe how different people found solace in this love nest. For example, a couple slipped away to spend some quality time, while the landlord looked after them for a modest fee. They had breakfast while their love was still uncertain or when whispers of sweet nothings were passed between them. The Casita Blanca gave them the discretion to lock away their secrets, providing a world of mirrors in dim light and a familiar perfume.
The song continues to describe how the Casita Blanca was viewed by society; neighbors would gossip and witches would taunt, but a couple of pigeons would take flight to the open countryside. While a former client in his sensibility went on to build furnished apartments in a sturdy pink tone named after his old haunt, La Casita Blanca was a different kind of abode. It was a place of magic, love, and intrigue, and above all, it provided a safe haven for love to bloom.
Line by Line Meaning
En ese abrevadero Amable y romántico, El amor fue amo y señor Y hoy bajo su alero No anidan más pájaros Que las palomas donde da el sol.
In that friendly and romantic watering hole, love was king and master, but now it is only a place where pigeons nest in the sunlight.
Quizá le llamaban La Casita Blanca Por tener terraza de sábana inquieta O quizá porque El amor furtivo Tiene ojos de amigo Y pluma de poeta
They might have called it La Casita Blanca because of the restless cloth terrace, or because secret love has the eyes of a friend and the feathers of a poet.
Y en sus pasillos Extravió unos calzoncillos.
And in its hallways, someone lost their underwear.
Cuidó gentilmente Y por un precio módico Aquel desliz madrugador, Cuando ella con la compra Y usted con el periódico Desayunaban incierto amor
It kindly took care of that early morning slip-up, when she with her shopping and you with your newspaper had an uncertain breakfast of love, for a modest fee.
O cuando una boca murmuró al oído El lenguaje tibio de la ropa blanca. Cuando los bolsillos Rebosaban besos. La Casita Blanca Le proporcionaba "algo" discreto Donde encerrar un secreto.
Or when a mouth whispered warm words of white cotton in the ear. When pockets overflowed with kisses. La Casita Blanca provided a discrete place to confine a secret.
Un mundo de espejos A media luz pálida Y un perfume familiar Que se acurrucan contra La puerta metálica Que ha clausurado la autoridad.
A world of mirrors under pale half-light, and a familiar scent nestling against the metal door that has sealed out the authorities.
Los vecinos hablan... Las brujas retozan... Y un par de pichones huye al descampado Y un viejo ex-cliente, Pura sensatez, Hace bloques de Pisos amueblados En un tono rosa. Pero aquello era otra cosa.
Neighbors talk... Witches frolic... And a pair of fledglings escape to the empty lot. And one old customer, full of common sense, turns furnished apartments into pink-colored blocks. But that was something else.
Contributed by Maya T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.