Cuando No Estás (2013) – Andrés Calamaro

I’m surprised to find Cuando No Estás (When You Are Not Here) is the first song post here from Argentine rock-great Andrés Calamaro. My seven-year-old daughter Katherine introduced me to his music a little while back and I have been a fan ever since. Like a woman possessed, she played his tremendous ‘Flaca‘ (Skinny) over and over again. Kat also put me onto Calamaro’s Te Quiero Igual (I Love You Just the Same). I’ll never forget the first time I heard that one because I shouted to her, ‘That’s Dylan‘! If you watch that video it appears Calamaro is doing a pretty sweet Bob Dylan tribute even using his signage imagery from Subterranean Homesick Blues.

Today’s song Cuando No Estás also has a steeped Dylan-esque vibe. It’s a brilliantly manufactured song. It has almost everything I love about contemporary music wrapped in just one song. The first time I heard this was when I was with my daughter in a double decker tourist bus on our way to the Carribean Coast. The front seats had the mini Tv screen and you could select between music, movies, and games etc. That’s where I saw Top Gun Maverick for the 4th time and loved it just the same. Anyhows, in the music section appeared an Andrés Calamaro album. My daughter and I popped our headphones in and towards the latter section I heard Cuando No Estás and I was blown away.

A loose English translation follows (the first verses):
When you are not here
I am in another part of the world
When you’re not here I’m wrong every half second
When you’re not here, loneliness advises me badly

When you’re not there, the parachute doesn’t open and I jump anyway
And I get lost in empty rooms
When you’re not, when you’re not with me

When you’re not there, the empty house asks when you’ll be back
And I write cruel verses
When you’re not here I’m waiting for you to come back

Andrés Calamaro is considered one of the greatest and most influential rock artists in Spanish. He is also one of the most complete artists for his wide range of musical styles, including funk, reggae, ballads, boleros, tangos and jazz. In 1996 Calamaro began composing song after song. In six months, he had over 100 songs ready to be released. Thirty-seven of these found their way to his next album, Honestidad brutal. The album included hits such as: Te quiero igual, Paloma, Los aviones, Cuando te conocí and La parte de adelante. The album also contains a collaboration with Diego Maradona.

In the following years, Calamaro made many guest appearances in concerts and recordings. He posted unpublished songs from 2001-2002 for free download over the Internet, saying that “Music belongs to those who want to hear it; and to nobody else“.

Reference:
1. Andrés Calamaro – Wikipedia

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand