One of my most satisfying projects of this past year was completing the composition and arrangement of the song “Mi condena / My Damnation” with guitarist Yasser Tejeda. We’ve only played it once, back in May, during The Mermaid’s Feet concerts in the Bronx, as you will see below.
I composed the music and over-the-top décima-style lyrics of this “bachata jÃbara” (if it’s not over-the-top, it’s not bachata) while Yasser came up with the perfect arrangement that mixes equal measures of playfulness and plaintiveness. “Mi condena” is now the prototype for a slowly developing series of “décimas del amargue” (décimas of bitterness) for our next album.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Predictions? Benedictions? Please let me know! It will be great to get your feedback as we go along.
So thank you for any thoughts, dear reader, and, thank you for the time and opportunity to get this song done, dear 2011. Now let’s record this and maybe even release this, dear 2012!
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Mi condena • My Damnation
Music and lyrics: Raquel Z. Rivera. Arrangement: Yasser Tejeda.
(Lyrics translated into English, below.)
La tristeza es mi martirio
Y la angustia mi prisión
Vergonzosa es la razón
De este abrumador delirio
De mañana prendo un cirio
Al pie de La Magdalena
Para que alivie la pena
Que me amarga a mi la vida
Voy sangrando por la herida
Del amor que es mi condena
Ese amor no pudo ser
Aunque mucho nos quisimos
Pero no bastan los mimos
Y tampoco con querer
Capullo sin florecer
Reina abeja sin colmena
Aun mi vida siendo plena
Siento un vacÃo sin fondo
Y es el suplicio tan hondo
Del amor que es mi condena
Entre la ira y el terror
Por las sombras me paseo
Y detrás del llanto no veo
Otra cosa que temor
Ese perpetuo dolor
Deseo que me envenena
Hiel amarga que me llena
Si él es carne de mi carne
Como hago pa’ olvidarme
Del amor que es mi condena
Sadness is my torment
And anguish is my prison
The reason for this delirium
Is truly shameful
In the morning I light a candle
At the feet of The Magdalene
So that she will relieve the pain
That is making my life so bitter
I am bleeding from the wound
Left by the love that is my damnation
That love could not be
Even though we cherished each other
But sweet caresses are not enough
And neither is wanting to make it work
I’m a bud that does not bloom
I’m a queen bee without a beehive
My life is full
But I feel a bottomless emptiness
And it’s the terrible torture
Of the love that is my damnation
I stroll in the shadows
Between anger and terror
And beyond my tears
I can only see fear
And that never ending pain
Desire that poisons me
Bile that fills me
If he is flesh of my flesh
How can I possibly ever forget
The love that is my damnation