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.
Un Mundo Raro
José Alfredo Jiménez Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Y te ofrezcan un sol y un cielo entero
Si te acuerdas de mí, no me menciones
Porque vas a sentir amor del bueno
Y si quieren saber de tu pasado
Es preciso decir una mentira
Di que vienes de allá, de un mundo raro
Y que nunca has amado
Porque yo a donde voy, hablaré de tu amor
Como un sueño dorado y olvidando el rencor
No diré que tu adiós me volvió desgraciado
Y si quieren saber de mi pasado
Es preciso decir otra mentira
Les diré que llegué de un mundo raro
Que no sé del dolor, que triunfé en el amor
Y que nunca he llorado
The lyrics of José Alfredo Jiménez's "Un Mundo Raro" speaks about a person advising another not to mention them when they talk about love and illusions, for fear that their feelings for each other will be exposed. The person tells the other to say that they come from a strange and unusual world where they don't know how to cry, don't understand love, and have never loved anyone. This strange world is a way of avoiding confrontation and avoiding the pain of acknowledging love.
The theme of the song is hiding one's true feelings and putting up a façade to protect oneself from being hurt. The lyrics suggest that it is better to lie about your past and your emotions than to express your true feelings and risk getting hurt. The song's main message is about the fear of exposing oneself and the fear of being vulnerable in the face of love.
Overall, "Un Mundo Raro" is a song about the fear of expressing one's true emotions and the lengths that people will go to in order to protect themselves from the pain of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Cuando te hablen de amor y de ilusiones
When people talk to you about love and illusions
Y te ofrezcan un sol y un cielo entero
And they offer you the sun and the whole sky
Si te acuerdas de mí, no me menciones
If you remember me, don't mention me
Porque vas a sentir amor del bueno
Because you are going to feel pure love
Y si quieren saber de tu pasado
And if they want to know about your past
Es preciso decir una mentira
It is necessary to tell a lie
Di que vienes de allá, de un mundo raro
Say that you come from a strange world
Que no sabes llorar, que no entiendes de amor
That you don't know how to cry, that you don't understand love
Y que nunca has amado
And that you have never loved
Porque yo a donde voy, hablaré de tu amor
Because wherever I go, I will talk about your love
Como un sueño dorado y olvidando el rencor
As a golden dream, forgetting the resentment
No diré que tu adiós me volvió desgraciado
I will not say that your goodbye made me unhappy
Y si quieren saber de mi pasado
And if they want to know about my past
Es preciso decir otra mentira
It is necessary to tell another lie
Les diré que llegué de un mundo raro
I will tell them that I came from a strange world
Que no sé del dolor, que triunfé en el amor
That I do not know about pain, that I triumphed in love
Y que nunca he llorado
And that I have never cried
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Jose Alfredo Jimenez Sandoval
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@crizzz40
Hoy hace 50 años murió José Alfredo Jiménez. Digo murió, aunque nunca se fue, vivió en su música junto a mi abuelo hasta su último día y ahora acompaña mis pasos.
@ignaciodiaz6023
El verdadero rey de Mexico
@carlosrojaslopez1588
Hay una leyenda qué dicen que por esta canción, los hombres de negro lo siguieron un tiempo.
@carlosenriquecarvobeltran7579
Cuenta
@isbeliasarmientomorales9169
MI CANCIÓN FAVORITA, DE ENTRE TODAS LAS BELLÍSIMAS CANCIONES DEL GRAN JOSÉ ALFREDO JIMÉNEZ.
@yerilrodriguez6974
Este señor es de otro planeta un artista en todo su esplendor , grandioso
@juliocesarsm216
A huevo !!! José Alfredo Jiménez Señores !!!
@rossymartinez9103
Quien en cuarentena Con El Rey. 2020 🎶🇲🇽🎶🇲🇽🎶🇲🇽🎶😢
@adelaidegrimes807
Yo mero🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋🎶🎵🎼🎶🎶🎵🎶🎼
@petronilagonzalesmendez1989
Solamente en cuarenta???es para escuchar sus canciones para siempre