Perla Batalla - Cucurrucucu Paloma

When you watch Perla through the piano introduction, you have to wonder what sort of sound could come from such a seemingly nervous waif of a girl. As she begins, she is almost talking rather than singing and for one brief moment her voice trembles and again you wonder if the girl is up to the task at hand. But, as the song progresses, you begin to feel the passion of the music and to be bathed in a mesmerizing purity of voice that just a few moments earlier you could not have imagined possible.

I learned of Perla Batalla while researching Leonard Cohen's music for whom she once provided back-up vocals. This is the first solo performance of hers I've heard and I feel so fortunate for having discovered such a splendid song, even though I can hardly understand a single word.





www.leonardcohenfiles.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.hrmusic.com...

www.perla.com...


[edit on 2008/1/19 by GradyPhilpott]

Dicen que por las noches

no más se le iba en puro llorar;

dicen que no comía,

no más se le iba en puro tomar.

Juran que el mismo cielo

se estremecía al oír su llanto,

cómo sufrió por ella,

y hasta en su muerte la fue llamando:

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay cantaba,

ay, ay, ay, ay, ay gemía,

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay cantaba,

de pasión mortal moría.

Que una paloma triste

muy de mañana le va a cantar

a la casita sola

con sus puertitas de par en par;

juran que esa paloma

no es otra cosa más que su alma,

que todavía espera

a que regrese la desdichada.

Cucurrucucú paloma, cucurrucucú no llores.

Las piedras jamás, paloma,

¿qué van a saber de amores?

Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú,

cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú,

cucurrucucú, paloma, ya no le llores



Grady, its a little hard to transate, because of its deep meaning- Be thankful you dont understand, its extremely sad...
-They say at night he purely cried
They say he wouldnt eat and only did partake of drinks
They say heaven itself would rumble at his crying...
How he suffered for her....
And even in death he kept calling her....

Ay ay ay ay ay..he sang
Ay ay ay ay ay.. he moaned..
Ay ay ay ay ay..he sang...
He could die for his love..

They said a sad pidgeon
early in the morning would sing...
To the lonely house
with its doors open,
They swear that the pidgeon is nothing more than her soul,
still waiting for her return,

Cucurrucucu Paloma, Cucurrucucu, dont cry....
Rocks dont know...what would they know about love?
Cucurrucucu Paloma (pidgeon) please dont cry again...


Obviously a great love was lost here. I hope this helps because if you run it thru a translator, it would absolutely make no sense whatsoever. I tried to make it as real as possible.

Barry Manillow's song, Copacabana, is also a real love story and a famous shooting at the Copa in Havana before my time!!


Clarification...Cucurrucucu is a way of calling birds in Spanish.



[edit on 19-1-2008 by dgtempe]

I did run it through a translator and even though it looked like a mess, I derived pretty much that meaning from what came out.

It's nice to see it done in grammatical English, though, just to verify that my impression was correct.

It is a sad, but very beautiful song.

Thanks very much.

Grady

They say that by the nights

did not more go him itself in pure to cry;

they say that did not eat,

Did not more it go him itself in pure to take.

They swear that the same sky

it trembled upon hearing its crying,

how suffered for her,

And even in its death was it calling:

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh it sang,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh moaned,

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh it sang,

Of mortal passion moría.

That a sad dove

very early in the morning is going to sing him

to the alone little house

with its puertitas of pair in pair;

they swear that that dove

is not another thing more than its soul,

that still expects

To that the unhappy one return.

Cucurrucucú dove, cucurrucucú do not cry.

The stones never, dove,

What do they be going to know of loves?

Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú,

cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú,

cucurrucucú, dove, no longer cry him

ets.freetranslation.com...

Sorry about the Dove/Pidgeon mix up.

It is a beautiful song and you did get quite a bit from the translator. Glad you did.