Mujer Amante (1990) – Rata Blanca

Mujer Amante (Lover Woman) is by Argentinian hard rock and heavy metal group – Rata Blanca (White Rat). It is one of the most famous songs by the group. The song was composed by Adrián Barilari (see image inset) in his bathroom, which is a better place than any. Just ask James Blunt. He wrote Goodbye my Lover in Princess Leia’s bathroom. I imagine when James walked out, there appeared a goldmine.
This song Mujer Amante along with several from the album Magos, Espadas y Rosas (Wizards, Swords and Roses) was going to launch them to massive fame in Argentina and took them to tour America and parts of Europe.

Rata Blanca formed in 1985 in the Bajo Flores area, a neighborhood located south of the city of Buenos Aires. It is considered one of the most important and influential of hard rock and heavy metal in Spanish, although during their career they also incorporated heavy riffs with melodic and harmonic structures of classical music. Over the years they have been classified into different subgenres, however the group is considered simply “metal rock“.

A loose English translation follows:

I feel the warmth of all your skin
in my body again
Shooting star,
ignite my thirst
Mysterious woman

With your sensual love, how much do you give me
make my dream come true
Give me your soul today, do the ritual
Take me to the world where I can dream
Whoa! I have to know if it’s true
somewhere you are
I will look for a sign, a song
Whoa! I have to know if it’s true
somewhere you are
Only the love that you give me will help me

At dawn your image leaves
Mysterious woman
You left in me total lust
beautiful and sexy

Adrián Barilari had only been in the group for a few months, and he asked Walter Giardino the possibility of composing. They reached an agreement, and the guitarist offered him a double pedal speed metal song that had neither lyrics nor a name, so Barilari wrote about the piece of music and named it Shooting Star. However, when Giardino saw the result, he decided the lyrics would be more suitable for another melody that was hanging around in rehearsals.

Originally, they only played it in rehearsals, and it was not going to be part of Magos, Espadas y Rosas as it contrasted with the characteristic sound of the band, but they decided to include it as filler when they saw that the album lasted less than 40 minutes and, as it was released on vinyl, and they needed a minimum of 45′.

According to Barilari account: “It was a ballad that clearly didn’t have much to do with the record, and for that reason it generated a lot of reluctance to include a part-tempo song on a work that had a rather hard-sounding sound.” Walter Giardino said: “It didn’t identify us too much. We thought it was a nice song… Period. We never imagined that it could have as much crossover as the one it had and reach unexpected places. The truth is that at one point it bothered us that they identified us all the time with that song, because it doesn’t coincide at all with the rest of Rata’s work, but not even close“.

According to the words of Adrián Barilari in a radio interview with Rock & Pop in 2005, after including the ballad to complete the album’s minutes, the band initially refused to perform it live and whether it be a broadcast cut or a single. Despite this resistance, the song also ended up being a massive success on the radio, transcending all social strata and inserting Rata Blanca into the Spanish-American market and part of the European market, thus achieving popularity that was unimaginable until then for an Argentine metal group.

References:
1. Mujer Amante – Rata Blanca
2. Rata Blanca – Wikipedia