Career
Jurado began performing flamenco at a very young age, debuting on the big screen in 1962 with Los guerrilleros, acting alongside Manolo Escobar. She also played a main role in 1966's Proceso a una estrella and 1971's Una chica casi decente. While temporarily living in Argentina, the Spanish diva participated in a successful musical called La zapatera prodigiosa, based on Federico García Lorca's work. After teaming with composer Manuel Alejandro, Rocío Jurado became a major and beloved figure on the Latin music scene, acclaimed throughout America and Spain after releasing Muera el amor and Señora, among other hits.
Illness
In 2004, Jurado was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer for which she was treated in Houston, Texas in 2006. In April 2006, she was also treated for acute liver failure in a hospital in Madrid, Spain. On May 26, 2006, Spain's Culture Minister Carmen Calvo announced that Jurado had suffered a stroke, an assertion denied by Jurado's personal physician Dr. Domingo and by her brother and manager Amador Mohedano. She died at 5:15 in the morning on June 1st, 2006, at her home in La Moraleja, Madrid, aged 61. She is buried in her hometown, Chipiona, Cadiz, in the San José Cemetery.
La Taberna Del Puerto
Rocío Jurado Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Como el que mira el mar,
Se le rompió la voz
Al intentar decir, hola que tal!
¿Como tu por aquí?
Y ella quedo desnudo frente a él.
La taberna del puerto es un lugar
Hay olor a cerveza y a café,
A lodo y a carmín.
(estribillo)
La taberna del puerto huele a sal,
A perfume barato y a placer a marino
Sin rumbo y sin hogar y a besos de papel,
La taberna del puerto huele a sal.
Ella escuchó y recordó con él
El tiempo del amor que les robó la mar,
Se dibujo una sonrisa en él
Y acarició el sueño de volver.
La taberna del puerto no es lugar
Para supervivientes del amor,
Hay un sitio vacio que quedó
Perdido frente al mar.
La taberna del puerto huele a ron,
A caricia marchita y a soledad,
A piano dormido en un rincón
Y a ropa sin planchar.
The lyrics from Rocio Jurado's song, La Taberna Del Puerto, tell a story of two lovers who unexpectedly meet in a seedy bar by the port. The man is filled with emotion upon seeing the woman and tries to say hello but his voice catches in his throat. The woman is caught off guard by the encounter and stands exposed in front of him.
The bar itself is a place where people go to escape their failures in life and the love they have lost. The bar is rife with the smell of beer and coffee, and is permeated with the odors of mud and carmine. The chorus speaks of the salty smell of the port, the cheap perfume of the patrons, and the paper-thin kisses they share.
As the lovers talk, they reminisce about the time they lost due to the ocean, and a smile comes over the man's face as he caresses the dream of being together again. The bar is no place for the broken-hearted to find solace, as it is filled with emptiness and loneliness. The smell of rum, stale caresses, and forgotten pianos fills the air, reminding all who have come to escape their reality that there is no real way to escape.
Overall, this song portrays a sense of longing and lost love, as two people who were once together are unexpectedly reunited in a place where others have come to escape the same emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Él la miró,
He looked at her,
Como el que mira el mar,
Like one looks at the sea,
Se le rompió la voz
His voice broke
Al intentar decir, hola que tal!
When he tried to say hi, how are you?
¿Como tu por aquí?
What are you doing here?
Y ella quedo desnudo frente a él.
And she was naked in front of him.
La taberna del puerto es un lugar
The tavern of the port is a place
Donde van los fracasos a morir,
Where failures go to die,
Hay olor a cerveza y a café,
There is the smell of beer and coffee,
A lodo y a carmín.
To mud and carmine.
La taberna del puerto huele a sal,
The tavern of the port smells like salt,
A perfume barato y a placer a marino
To cheap perfume and pleasure of the sea,
Sin rumbo y sin hogar y a besos de papel,
Aimless and homeless and to paper kisses,
La taberna del puerto huele a sal.
The tavern of the port smells like salt.
Ella escuchó y recordó con él
She listened and remembered with him
El tiempo del amor que les robó la mar,
The time of love that the sea stole from them,
Se dibujo una sonrisa en él
A smile appeared on his face
Y acarició el sueño de volver.
And he caressed the dream of coming back.
La taberna del puerto no es lugar
The tavern of the port is not a place
Para supervivientes del amor,
For love survivors,
Hay un sitio vacio que quedó
There is an empty place that remained
Perdido frente al mar.
Lost in front of the sea.
La taberna del puerto huele a ron,
The tavern of the port smells like rum,
A caricia marchita y a soledad,
To withered caresses and loneliness,
A piano dormido en un rincón
To a sleeping piano in a corner
Y a ropa sin planchar.
And to unironed clothes.
Contributed by Colin J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.