Blades's father is a percussionist-turned-detective and his mother was a singer and radio performer. His grandfather, Reuben Blades, was an English-speaking native of St. Lucia who came to work on the canal, as he tells in the song West Indian Man on the album Amor y Control ("That's where the Blades comes from.") (1992)
After obtaining degrees in political science and law at Panama's Universidad Nacional, Blades worked at the Bank of Panama as a lawyer. In 1974, Blades moved to the United States, staying temporarily with his exiled parents in Miami before moving to New York City. Blades began his musical career in New York writing songs while working in the mailroom at Fania Records, and soon was working with salseros Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow. Shortly thereafter Blades started collaborating with trombonist and band leader Willie Colón, and they recorded several albums together. Their album Siembra (1978) became the best-selling salsa record in history.
After 1980, Blades tried to terminate his contract with Fania, but he was contractually obliged to record several more albums. These are generally considered toss-offs and Blades himself told his fans to avoid them. When he was free of his contractual obligations, Blades signed with another label, Elektra, and assembled a top-notch band (known variously as Seis Del Solar or Son Del Solar) and recorded a number of albums with them.
In the early 1980s, Blades began his career in films as a composer of soundtracks.
In 1982, Blades got his first acting role in The Last Fight writing the title song as well as portraying a singer-turned-boxer vying for a championship against a fighter who was played by real life world champion boxer Salvador Sánchez.
In 1985, Blades gained widespread recognition as co-writer and star of the independent film Crossover Dreams as a New York salsa singer willing to do anything to break into the mainstream. This same year he earned a master's degree in international law from Harvard University. He was also the subject of Robert Mugge's documentary The Return of Ruben Blades, which debuted at that year's Denver Film Festival. During the 1990s, he acted in films, mounted his unsuccessful presidential bid, founding the party Movimiento Papa Egoró, and continued to make salsa records.
His many film appearances include The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Two Jakes (1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Devil's Own (1997). In 1999, he played Mexican artist Diego Rivera in Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock.
In 1997, Blades headed the cast of singer/songwriter Paul Simon's first Broadway musical, The Capeman, based on a true story about a violent youth who becomes a poet in prison. In the 2003 film Once Upon a Time in Mexico, starring Johnny Depp, Antonio Banderas, and Willem Dafoe, he played the role of a retired FBI agent.
Blades' 1999 album Tiempos which he made with the 12-piece Costa Rican band Editus, represented a break from his salsa past and a rejection of commercial trends in Latin music.
Some might say that "his biggest mistake was releasing an English-language album in 1988 in the wake of his 1987 Grammy for Escenas" [sic] but in fact, he tends to avoid commercial choices. After winning his first Grammy for Escenas in 1986 he recorded the album Agua de Luna based on the short stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1987. The next year he released the English language collaboration with rock artists Sting, Elvis Costello, and Lou Reed the same year as Antecedente, another Grammy winner. In 2003 he followed the World Music Grammy winner Mundo with a web site free download project. As he said in 2005 when receiving the ASCAP Founders Award about his non-commercial choices, "That's the way I think."
In 2004 he put his artistic careers on hold when he began serving as Minister of Tourism of Panama.
Source: Wikipedia®
Juana Mayo
Rubén Blades Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
En un mundo en que la gente
Compra su felicidad
Juana Mayo, peregrina de la acera
Veterana de la espera
Callejera flor de amor
En sus noches de hombre en hombre
Va pasando, desesperado buscando
Ríe por fuera y por dentro está llorando
Pues lo que ella está buscando
No lo va a encontrar así
Juana Mayo, ave de la madrugada
De tristeza disfrazada
Con perfumes y carmín
Juana Mayo, donde anónimos señores
Sacan a pasear dolores
A un jardín de soledad
De Juana Mayo, dime varón
Si tú te acuerdas de ella
The lyrics of "Juana Mayo" by Rubén Blades present a portrait of a woman known as Juana Mayo who is a streetwalker, wandering from man to man, seeking a reason to live. The opening lines of the song imply that everything comes with a price and every price is different. It highlights that in a world where people buy their happiness, Juana is seeking a purpose to live but is only finding darkness.
Blades sings about how Juana is a streetwalker, with a veteran's experience, a pilgrim on the pavement, and a flower of love. She goes from one man to the other, seeking her reason to live but seems to find only sadness and desperation. Juana disguises herself with makeup and perfume, trying to hide the sorrow that runs deep. The lyrics go further to contrast Juana's inner turmoil and her outward appearance. Juana's light-hearted laughter on the outside is a facade for the sadness she silently endures within herself.
Blades' use of poetic lyrics and traditional salsa music helps emphasize the contrast the song presents. He highlights how Juana Mayo, who is an anonymous figure to most people, is dealing with real struggles and pain. The song is a melancholic tribute to the countless Juana Mayos who hide from the scrutiny of society but who fight and suffer even more through the hardship.
Line by Line Meaning
Todo cuesta y cada precio es diferente
In this world, every single thing has its own cost, which can vary from person to person.
En un mundo en que la gente
Compra su felicidad
In a world where people buy their happiness with materialistic things.
Juana Mayo, peregrina de la acera
Veterana de la espera
Callejera flor de amor
Juana Mayo is a wanderer of the sidewalk, a veteran of waiting, a street flower of love.
En sus noches de hombre en hombre
Va pasando, desesperado buscando
Su razón para vivir
She moves from man to man in her nights, desperately searching for a reason to live.
Ríe por fuera y por dentro está llorando
Pues lo que ella está buscando
No lo va a encontrar así
She laughs outwardly but inside she cries, because she knows what she is searching for can't be found like this.
Juana Mayo, ave de la madrugada
De tristeza disfrazada
Con perfumes y carmín
Juana Mayo is a bird of the dawn, disguised with sadness, perfume, and lipstick.
Juana Mayo, donde anónimos señores
Sacan a pasear dolores
A un jardín de soledad
Juana Mayo is where anonymous gentlemen walk to confront their pain in a garden of solitude.
De Juana Mayo, dime varón
Si tú te acuerdas de ella
Tell me, man, do you remember Juana Mayo?
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
elantidecadente
Ruben rescantando la dignidad de la persona humana: "su cuerpo tiene un precio ,pero su alma no"
Ricardo Guillermo Gonzáles Latinez
El poeta de la salsa y temas sociales, un grande entre los grandes .
BENIGNO ALVEO
Detalles de la vida plasmados en salsa, grande Ruben
Maximo Antonio Cruz
Exselente tema interpretado por el monstruo de la salsa q viva ruben por siempre
Machuca Venenoso
Que recuerdos de mi Ruben Blades. Desde Madrid Pan Bendito un humilde Gitano que ama esta musica.
lopz33
¡Tremendo clásico!
Ricardo Guillermo Gonzáles Latinez
Bonito tema de Rubén Blades, Juana Mayo.
Luigi Pasta
No podemos dejar atras al genio que construyó la estructura musical alrededor de esta joya musical..... cantante y arreglista en perfecta armonia
Mazapan de Fresa
Que recuerdos de mi infancia 3 con el casete en el carro de mi papá.
Josph = Javier = Nzrth.
Saludes a mis hermanos latino-hispanos, soy de mexico pero me gusta mucho la musica salsa del caribe y de panama inclusive, Ruben Blades unos de los mejores salsistas, te queremos mucho ruben!, bendiciones mi brother latino