Performer of a music style known as Canto Nuevo or Nueva Trova, Luis Eduard… Read Full Bio ↴Performer of a music style known as Canto Nuevo or Nueva Trova, Luis Eduardo Aute has been an artist in many different ways. It was in 1954 when Aute moved to Spain, after spending his childhood in the Philippines. Deciding to become an artist, Luis Eduardo Aute's first passion was painting, having his first exhibition in 1960, while living in Madrid. By the mid-'60s, the painter and poet was convinced to start recording his own music and he signed up to RCA in 1966. The following year, Aleluya and Rosas En El Mar were released. Prominent books such as Las Matematicas del Espejo, La Liturgia del Desorden, and Animal were published in recognition to his writing skills. After releasing Alevosía in 1995, Aute started touring all over Latin America and Spain with a painting exhibition called Ad Libidum; he later participated in a collective album called Un Secreto A Voces, based on lyrics by Alejandro Filio.

Tengo sed
Luis Eduardo Aute Lyrics

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"Tengo sed",
te oí decir con el aliento
apenas.
Y te arrullé, como a un recién nacido,
contra mis pechos ávidos
de labios tuyos.
Te di de beber.
Y luego de saciarte, volviste

a repetir:
"tengo sed",
sin aliento,
apenas.
Te arrullé, esta vez,
entre mis muslos
y de nuevo
te di de beber.
En la fuente de la vida
y de la muerte, sellaste,

con un beso,
el último suspiro.

Overall Meaning

The song "Tengo sed" by Luis Eduardo Aute is a beautiful and poignant ballad about longing and desire, and the promise of fulfillment that comes with it. The opening lines, "Tengo sed", which translate to "I'm thirsty", set the tone for the entire song. The singer hears someone whisper these words with barely a breath, and feels compelled to offer up everything they have to quench that thirst.

As the song progresses, we see the singer trying to sate the thirst of the person they're with. They cradle them like a newborn, offering their own lips to drink from, then later cradling them between their thighs. There's a sense of desperation and urgency to these actions, as if satisfying this thirst is the most important thing in the world.

The last two lines of the song, "En la fuente de la vida y de la muerte, sellaste, con un beso, el último suspiro", paint a picture of the ultimate act of surrender. The thirst has been quenched, and the one who was so desperate for satisfaction has finally found it. The kiss that seals their fate is both an expression of love and a goodbye, a final exhalation before passing from this world.

Overall, the song is a powerful meditation on the human experience of longing and connection, and the lengths we'll go to bridge that divide. It speaks to the universal need for intimacy and understanding, and the ways in which we seek out and honor that connection in our lives.

Line by Line Meaning

Tengo sed
I am thirsty

te oí decir con el aliento
I heard you say with your breath

apenas.
barely.

Y te arrullé, como a un recién nacido,
And I cradled you like a newborn,

contra mis pechos ávidos
Against my eager breasts

de labios tuyos.
With your lips.

Te di de beber.
I gave you something to drink.

Y luego de saciarte, volviste
And after satisfying you, you returned

a repetir:
to repeat:

"tengo sed",
"I am thirsty",

sin aliento,
out of breath,