The restaurant where he worked as a young man, "La Sirena" was frequented by Andres Huesca, who heard some of his compositions of the then young singer, among which was "Cuando el Destino" and "Yo". Huesca immediately decided to record this and following this in 1948 for the first time on the radio station XEX-AM and months after the XEW-AM, which was catapulted to fame. He married Paloma Gálvez and had two children, José Alfredo and Paloma.
He had no musical training—according to the singer Miguel Aceves Mejía, Jiménez didn't play an instrument and didn't even know the Spanish terms for "waltz" and "key". Nonetheless he composed more than 1000 songs. Among the most famous are "Ella", "Media Vuelta", "El Rey", "El Jinete", "Si Nos Dejan", "Amanecí Entre Tus Brazos", "Cuando el Destino", "El Caballo Blanco", "Llegó Borracho el Borracho" and "Que Te Vaya Bonito", as well as "Camino de Guanajuato", where he sang about his home State of Guanajuato as well as his home town of Dolores Hidalgo Guanajuato.
In addition to his own hit recordings, many of his songs have been recorded successfully by recording artists around the Spanish-speaking world, most notably by Pedro Infante, Rocío Durcal, Javier Solís, Pedro Fernández, Jorge Negrete, Vikki Carr, Luis Miguel, Lola Beltrán, Lucha Villa, Vicente Fernández and by Spaniards Julio Iglesias, Joaquín Sabina and Manolo García.
Jiménez passed at a young age, like others of his contemporaries: Negrete, Infante and Solís, the so-called "Three Mexican Roosters", or Tres Gallos Mexicanos all died young. He was struck-down by hepatitis at age 47 and is regarded, along with Agustín Lara and Juan Gabriel, as one of the best songwriters that Mexico has ever produced. He was certainly one of the most prolific composers in the history of popular music, world-wide.
Shortly before his death, he wrote and recorded his last song, "Gracias", thanking the public for all of the affection they had shown him. His tomb has become a place of pilgrimage for serious music fans from around the Spanish-speaking world.
Gracias
José Alfredo Jiménez Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Que me quieran a mi
Por todas mis canciones.
Ya me puse a pensar
Y no alcanzo a cubrir
Tan lindas intenciones.
Para comprar un mundo
Mas bonito que el nuestro.
Pero todo lo aviento
Porque quiero morirme
Como muere mi pueblo.
Yo no quiero saber
Que se siente tener
Millones y millones.
Si tuviera con que
Compraria para mi
Otros dos corazones.
Para hacerlos vibrar
Y llenar otra vez
Sus almas de ilusiones.
Y poderles pagar
Que me quieran a mi
Y a todas mis canciones.
Para poderles pagar
Que me quieran a mi
Y a todas mis canciones.
The song "Gracias" by José Alfredo Jiménez expresses gratitude to his fans who have loved him and appreciated his music throughout his career. He wonders how he can repay their love and affection for all his songs. He feels overwhelmed by their kindness and cannot find a way to thank them enough. He has made money to buy a better world but discards it all to die the way his people do. He does not want to know how it feels to have millions and millions, and if he had the means, he would purchase two more hearts for himself to make them vibrate and fill others' souls with aspirations. He hopes that by doing so, he can pay them back for their love of him and his songs.
Line by Line Meaning
¿Cómo puedo pagar?
How can I repay?
Que me quieran a mi
For them to love me
Por todas mis canciones.
For all my songs.
Ya me puse a pensar
I've been thinking
Y no alcanzo a cubrir
And I can't cover
Tan lindas intenciones.
Such beautiful intentions.
He ganado dinero
I've earned money
Para comprar un mundo
To buy a world
Mas bonito que el nuestro.
Prettier than ours.
Pero todo lo aviento
But I throw it all away
Porque quiero morirme
Because I want to die
Como muere mi pueblo.
Like my people die.
Yo no quiero saber
I don't want to know
Que se siente tener
What it feels like to have
Millones y millones.
Millions and millions.
Si tuviera con que
If I had what it takes
Compraria para mi
I would buy for myself
Otros dos corazones.
Two more hearts.
Para hacerlos vibrar
To make them vibrate
Y llenar otra vez
And fill once again
Sus almas de ilusiones.
Their souls with dreams.
Y poderles pagar
And to be able to repay them
Que me quieran a mi
For them to love me
Y a todas mis canciones.
And all my songs.
Para poderles pagar
To be able to repay them
Que me quieran a mi
For them to love me
Y a todas mis canciones.
And all my songs.
Contributed by Thomas K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mari Carmen Piñero Hernández
El mejor compositor q ha tenido México...sin lugar a dudas...en mi humilde opinión...como él no hay dos...saludos desde las islas Canarias 😘😘🎆
Ma Guadalupe Ramos
Así es como él ninguno QEPD🙏🕯️🌹
Gabriel Soriano
Coincido, pero atrás de él sigue Juan Gabriel
enrcislir
Saludos desde la Ciudad de México
Felix Dela paz
Viva México señores un saludo para mi tierra y tierra del señor José Alfredo Jiménez
Alejandro García
El pueblo nunca muere el menos gran paisano José Alfredo Jiménez..👏👏👏👏
Alexandr@rtega.
No cualquiera se molesta en componer una canción para dar las gracias a su pueblo bien por este SEÑORON
Verónica González
En lo personal en una canción excepcional 😭
Me llega al alma
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Alfredo Montejo
Eso es cierto
raul rodriguez
Maria de la Tor