José Plácido Domingo Embil (born January 21, 1941), better known as Plácido… Read Full Bio ↴José Plácido Domingo Embil (born January 21, 1941), better known as Plácido Domingo, is a world-famous Spanish operatic tenor. He is known for his versatile, strong voice that possesses a ringing and clear tone throughout its range. In addition to his singing roles, he has also taken on conducting opera performances as well as acting as the General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, DC and the Los Angeles Opera in California.

Plácido Domingo was born in Madrid, Spain, and moved to Mexico at age 8 with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. In Mexico City he studied music at the National Conservatory. He provided backup vocals for Los Black Jeans in 1958, a rock-and-roll band lead by César Costa. He learned piano and conducting, but made his stage debut in 1959 (May 12) at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara as Pascual in Marina. It was followed by Borsa in Rigoletto, Padre Confessor (Le dialogue des Carmelites) and others. In 1962 he joined the Israeli National Opera in Tel Aviv, where he spent two and a half years, singing 280 performances.

On September 19, 1985, the biggest earthquake in Mexico's history devastated the whole Mexican capital. Domingo's aunt, uncle, his nephew and his nephew’s young son were killed in the collapse of the Nuevo León apartment block in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Domingo himself labored to rescue survivors. During the next year, he did benefit concerts for the victims and released an album of one of the events.

In 1966, he sang the title role in the US premiere of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera, with much acclaim. He first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on September 28, 1968, in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, singing with Renata Tebaldi. (Since then, he has opened the season there 21 times, surpassing the previous record of Enrico Caruso by four.) He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968, at both La Scala and San Francisco Opera in 1969, and at Covent Garden in 1971, and has now sung at practically every other important opera house and festival worldwide.

Perhaps the most versatile of all living tenors, Domingo has sung 92 roles onstage to date (and as many as 123 roles when also counting recorded roles), ranging from Mozart to Ginastera. His main repertoire however is Italian (Otello, Il Trovatore, Don Carlo), French (Faust, Werther, Don José in Carmen, Samson in Samson et Dalila), and German (Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Siegmund in Die Walküre). He continues to add more operas to his repertoire, such as recently Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House in London.

With José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, he participated in The Three Tenors concert at the opening of the 1990 World Cup in Rome. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation and was later repeated a number of times, including at the three subsequent World Cup finals (1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama). Alone, Domingo again made an appearance at the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin.

In what has been called his 'final career move', Placido Domingo announced on January 25, 2007 that in 2009 he would switch ranges to baritone by taking on one of Verdi's most demanding baritone roles, as the Doge of Genoa, Simon Boccanegra, in the opera of the same name.

Annie's Song
Plácido Domingo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean

You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Overall Meaning

Placido Domingo's "Annie's Song" is a love letter from a devoted partner to their lover. The song's lyrics express the undying love and adoration that the singer holds for their partner. The use of natural and outdoor elements throughout the song like forests, mountains, rain, and oceans, suggests that the love they share is as vast and timeless as nature itself. The singer is pleading with their partner to let them love them, and to let them give their life to them. The imagery shifts from nature to the physical realm as the singer asks to drown in their laughter and die in their arms. The final plea to their partner is to never be separated, to always be with each other, and to fill up their senses with their love.

Line by Line Meaning

You fill up my senses
The person he is addressing fills him up with emotions and sensations

Like a night in a forest
Being with this person is like being surrounded by the calm and tranquility of a forest at night

Like the mountains in springtime
Being with this person brings him the same joy and excitement that the mountains in springtime bring him

Like a walk in the rain
Being with this person is like walking in the rain, refreshing and invigorating

Like a storm in the desert
Being with this person is like experiencing a powerful force that fills him with energy and stimulation, much like a storm in the desert

Like a sleepy blue ocean
Being with this person is like the calm and tranquility of a peaceful blue ocean

You fill up my senses
The person he is addressing continues to fill him up with emotions and sensations

Come fill me again
He is asking this person to fill him up with emotions and sensations once again

Come let me love you
He is expressing his desire to show love and affection for this person

Let me give my life to you
He is willing to dedicate his life to this person, showing his love and devotion

Let me drown in your laughter
He wants to be so immersed in this person's laughter that he feels like he is drowning in it

Let me die in your arms
He wants to spend his last moments in this person's arms, showing how much this person means to him

Let me lay down beside you
He wants to be close to and beside this person, expressing his commitment to the relationship

Let me always be with you
He wants to be with this person forever, never wanting to be separated from them

Come let me love you
He reiterates his desire to show love and affection for this person

Come love me again
He is asking this person to rekindle their love and relationship, showing how much he values their connection