August 13, 2023

Fifty years ago, in 1973, a cross-cultural phenomenom occurred.  A Spanish folk group from the Basque region lost the Eurovision contest to singer from Luxembourg, who sang a lesser-remembered tune: “Tu Te Reconnaitras,” thus proving that cultural contests are often worthless barometers of taste.

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The runner-up loser was the group Mocedades which sang “Eres Tú.”  Within months the losing, but quite catchy, tune became a worldwide phenomenom. It reached number 9 on the U.S. charts, which was amazing, given our American tendency to live in a bubble of monolingualism. Some translated versions were made, and they were just pitiful. The original Spanish, however, stands as a musical masterpiece.

The lyrics were simple, and one could easily translate them, after only half-way through a high school course in Level 1 Spanish.

Como una promesa, eres tú,  eres tú  — Like a promise, you are, you are

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Como una mañana de verano — Like a summer morning.

Como una sonrisa, eres tú, eres tú — Like a smile, you are, you are

Así, así, eres tú  — So, So, you are.

All the lyrics, with the option to translate them,

What amazes one about “Eres Tú” is how such simple, quite basic, lyrics stand the test of time, and remain so moving. If you know just simple Spanish, the power of those lyrics is jaw-dropping.

Compare that to modern insults, such as Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” With all the technology available to composers today: Garage Band, Soundtrap — is that the best music that they can come up with?