Guantanamera

with words by José Martí

sung by Patricia Cummings

Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera,
repeat.

The first two lines of every verse repeat twice.

Yo soy un hombre sincero
de donde crece la palma
y antes de morirme quiero
echar mis versos del alma.

Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmín encendido
Mi verso es de un ciervo herido
que busca en el monte amparo.

Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace que el mar.

"Guantanamera" = woman of Guantanamo, Cuba
"guajira" is diminutive and means young lady of Guantanamo

* I have substituted the verb gustar in the last sentence, as it is much easier to sing, given the way the music is written, and has the same meaning. "Me gusta más que el mar."

Notes on Spanish Pronunciation

Please listen to the song, keeping in mind all of the following ideas.

The letters "b" and "v" should not be pronounced as in English. They are "soft" and are essentially interchangeable.

The letter "r" is distinctive in Spanish and is trilled. Double r (rr) has an even more pronounced trill.

The letter "d" actually has two possible sounds. The choice of pronunciation depends on which sounds precede or follow the letter. At times, d sounds more like "th"; at other times, such as after the letter l or n, the Spanish d is a "stop."

"Sincero" sounds like "seen"- ce - ro.

In this song, "yo" is often used. In spoken Spanish, yo or "I" - would be understood by the verb form alone.

In the case of the words, "ciervo herido" - they run together because "h" is silent and therefore the final o in ciervo, and the first e in herido, form a dipthong.

The letter "j" is delivered with a bit of an aspirated effect.

Whenever two vowels come together, as in "monte amparo" - that is also treated as one word. Another example is "suerte echar."

The stress on any unaccented word falls on the second to the last syllable. In the case of the word, "encendido," the stress falls on "di."

Spanish cannot always be translated word for word. There are idiomatic expressions, as in any language. Often, translators do not even come close to doing a good job of interpreting meaning, especially with poetry.

Sometimes, words are transposed from their natural order for the purpose of poetic emphasis. A case in point is, "Quiero yo (mi suerte echar)." Normally, if used at all, the subject pronoun, "yo" would appear first, in the sentence.

See another file about José Martí and his poetry.

This file is provided here for educational purposes only, for Spanish students and interested parties. Its content was generated by Patricia Cummings and remains her intellectual property.