Listen to it here #
Intro #
I’ll be traveling to a wedding in Santo Domingo this year. When I got the invitation this song immediately came to mind because I once had a daydream where I was singing it to someone that I was seeing long-distance at that time.
José Luis Perales #
The artist, commonly known as Perales, has been a great influence in my life. My mother has told me that she would place him constantly while she was pregnant with me. When I was growing up here in the states I heard his songs played by my dad on his boombox. My mother became curious I would listen to the music so much. She asked me if I actually liked it. I don’t remember my exact answer but it must have been something like “Yes, if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t listen to it so much.”
I remember her responding, “that’s interesting because I played those songs while I was pregnant with you.” That sentence leads to a whole conversation about baby Einsteins and playing babies music to make them smarter but I’ll resist the urge to write about that.
I became obsessed with Perales’ music and I went through a phase where I bought all the albums that I could find. I bought many of his CDs and went as far as paying close to $100 for a set of CDs to be imported from Spain because it was the only place they sold this particular set of 4 CDs.
To this day I still have all those CDs stashed somewhere. For better or for worse they have molded what love and safety feel like to me and although I don’t listen to them often anymore I can still recall them and think of my mother when I first hear those songs.
Thank you mom, and dad because he actually bought all of the cassette tapes, for gifting me this music in my youth.
I will likely share more songs by Perales in the future.
The Wedding #
I have not yet gone to the wedding, but I’m looking forward to it very much. I hope to be able to update this when I have come back.
Update 2023-07-27: The Wedding #
I did get to go to the wedding and it was all and more than I had imagined. Thank you for the invite. If not for the wedding it might have been a few more years before I got the chance to live out half a dream.
Long-Distance Love #
As I mentioned in the intro, I did have daydreams about singing this song to someone that I was in love with and had been in a long distance relationship with. I would sing it to them now but back then I was not too confident in my singing voice and was much shyer about that type of thing.
With luck on my side I’ll get to live out a half of that daydream that I had so long ago. I’ll be able to walk the boardwalk, or malecón, of Santo Domingo and imagine myself on a long-distance phone call with someone I love.
Favorite Lyrics #
Hey babe it’s me
I’m talking on the boardwalk, the full moon’s glist’ning
On the beach there’s rhythm song
A tasty merengue beat that makes me dream
Oh man! Doesn’t that sound exciting. I’ve been the one on the phone, excited to talk to the person I love. And while I’m on the phone the environment around me takes on a different color. The world is livelier simply because I can hear the voice of the other. That tasty merengue beat makes me dream again.
She hates the rain that’s blotted out the sun
She hates the midnight that shrouds all of the sea
And she hates the day she lost her desire to return
All the while he’s on the phone with her and saying
The opportunity offered in the USA is incomparable to that of any other country. I can understand why she would hate to have lost her desire to return because I have seen people live through the death of that desire. They might very well look back on it with longing eyes, but they don’t wish for it to return. It’s more of a nice melancholy that they live.
And the voice gets cut off
And the silence is back one more day to keep them apart
And the kiss that they send tastes of loving long distance
And a tear in their souls opens up more
Opens up more, opens up more
Ugh! Do any of you remember phone cards that were used to call long-distance? I do. Getting the phone call cut off suddenly was not the best thing in the middle of a good conversation, but it’s a nice memory to bring back up and relive.
Lyrics #
Hola mi amor
Te hablo desde el malecón y hay luna llena
Y suena en la playa un son
De un merengue sabrosón que hace soñar
Hey babe it’s me
I’m talking on the boardwalk, the full moon’s glist’ning
On the beach there’s rhythm song
A tasty merengue beat that makes me dream
Oye mi amor
Los niños piensan en ti y me preguntan
Que cuando tú volverás
Que Santo Domingo está triste sin ti
Hey listen babe
The kids are thinking of you and they keep asking
When is that she’ll back?
Santo Domingo is sad that you’re not here
Siente la brisa acariciar su piel
Siente la arena besándole los pies
Y camina junto al mar, y se muere por volver
Mientras él por el teléfono le habla
She feels the breeze pass, caressing her tan skin
She feels the sand silk, kissing her underfoot
And she walks along the beach, and is dying to return
All the while he’s on the phone with her and saying
Hola mi amor
Te hablo desde el malecón y hay luna llena
Y suena en la playa un son
De un merengue sabrosón que hace soñar
Hey babe it’s me
I’m talking on the boardwalk, the full moon’s glist’ning
On the beach there’s rhythm song
A tasty merengue beat that makes me dream
Oye mi amor
Los niños piensan en ti y me preguntan
Que cuando tú volverás
Que Santo Domingo está triste sin ti
Hey listen babe
The kids are thinking of you and they keep asking
When is that she’ll back?
Santo Domingo is sad that you’re not here
Y se quiebra la voz
Y el silencio les cobra su factura un día más
Y se mandan un beso con sabor a Caribe
Y se rompen el alma un poco más
Un poco más
And the voice gets cut off
And the silence is back one more day to keep them apart
And the kiss that they send tastes a bit of the ocean
And a tear in their souls opens up more
Odia la lluvia que le ha borrado el sol
Odia la noche que le ha borrado el mar
Y odia el día en que perdió el deseo de volver
Mientras él por el teléfono le habla
She hates the rain that’s blotted out the sun
She hates the midnight that shrouds all of the sea
And she hates the day she lost her desire to return
All the while he’s on the phone with her and saying
Hola mi amor
Te hablo desde el Malecón, hay luna llena
Y suena en la playa un son De un merengue sabrosón que hace soñar
Hey babe it’s me
I’m talking on the boardwalk, the full moon’s glist’ning
On the beach there’s rhythm song
A tasty merengue beat that makes me dream
Oye mi amor
Los niños piensan en ti y me preguntan
Que cuando tú volverás
Que Santo Domingo está triste sin ti
Hey listen babe
The kids are thinking of you and they keep asking
When is that she’ll back?
Santo Domingo is sad that you’re not here
Y se quiebra la voz
Y el silencio les cobra su factura un día más
Y se mandan un beso con sabor a Caribe
Y se rompen el alma un poco más
Un poco más
And the voice gets cut off
And the silence is back one more day to keep them apart
And the kiss that they send tastes a bit of the ocean
And a tear in their souls opens up more
Y se quiebra la voz
Y el silencio les cobra su factura un día más
Y se mandan un beso con sabor a distancia
Y se rompen el alma un poco más
Un poco más, un poco más
And the voice gets cut off
And the silence is back one more day to keep them apart
And the kiss that they send tastes of loving long distance
And a tear in their souls opens up more
Opens up more, opens up more