written by Rubén Fuentes

Al golpe del remo se agitan las olas
Ligera la barca
Al ruido del agua se ahonda mi pena
Solloza mi alma.
Por tantos pesares, mi amor angustiado
Llorando te llama
Y te hallas muy lejos... y sola,
muy sola
Se encuentra mi alma.

Alegre viajero que tornas al puerto
De tierras lejanas
Que extraño piloto condujo tu barca
Sin vela y sin ancla
De qué región vienes, que has hecho
pedazos
Tus velas tan blancas.
Y fuiste cantando
Y vuelves trayendo, la muerte en el alma

Yo soy el marino
Que alegre de Guaymas, salió una mañana
Llevando en mi barca como ave piloto
Mi dulce esperanza.
Por mares ignotos
Mis santos anhelos hundió la borrasca
Por eso están rotas mis penas
Y traigo la muerte en el alma.
Te fuiste cantando
Y hoy vuelves trayendo
La muerte en el alma.

My father used to play this graceful
song on the piano during lazy Sunday
afternoons in our home in Tucson. It
took me about 30 years to finally get
around to asking him what it was
called. How we take these treasures
for granted! It was written around 1916
in Cosala, Sinaloa, on the west coast
of Mexico. The musicologist Adrian
Trevino thinks that this song was a
salon piece, possibly a valse asentado
(slow waltz). Its salon origins are
suggested by the unusual poetic struc-
ture and expression; each thought is
in three parts of six syllables each.
L.R.


The Boat from Guaymas

At the stroke of the oar the waves
are agitated
Light is the boat
At the noise of the water my sorrow
gets deeper
And my soul is sobbing.

Because of so many troubles
My anguished love cries out to you
You are very far away
And my soul finds itself alone,
all alone.

Tired traveler who returns to the port
From faraway lands
What strange pilot sailed your boat
Without a sail, without an anchor
From where do you come, that you have
torn to pieces
Your sails so white.
You left singing
And today you return, bringing death
in your soul.

I am the sailor who happily from Guaymas
Left one morning
Carrying in my boat, like a guiding bird,
My sweet hope
Through unknown seas
The storm overwhelmed my sacred
yearnings
That's why my efforts are broken
And I bring death in the soul.

You left singing
And today you return
Bringing death in your soul.

© 1987 Normal Music/ BMI