If I’ve got it right, that means “I sang” in Spanish and that – singing in Spanish – is what I did this afternoon, playing bass with SoWotJazz at The Ferryboat, a lovely pub in Whitchurch on Thames.

It was just for one song out of the twenty or more that we performed but I think it came off fairly well. I did check afterwards if there were any Spanish speakers in the audience but there weren’t. Therefore, no quality check on the language but the band and the audience seemed happy with the singing and playing.

The song was Besame Mucho, composed by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez in 1940. I based my interpretation on an evocative version by Cesária Évora although, checking tonight, suggests she sang most of her songs in a Portuguese-based creole so may have not been the best choice for Spanish fluency. It is lovely though and you can hear her version on YouTube:

What do the lyrics mean? Again, to the best of my Spanish ability (okay, supported by online translation engines): “Kiss me many times, as if it was our last night; kiss me many times because I fear I will lose you forever”. I think it sounds better in Spanish… even in my Spanish.