Amor de Loca Juventud (The Love of Crazy Youth) is the second song to feature here from the music documentary Buena Vista Social Club. Director Wim Wenders and guitarist Ry Cooder teamed up again (after Paris, Texas) to celebrate Cuba’s “musical golden age” between the 1930s and 1950s.
Today’s track is traditional music of Cuba called ‘Bolero‘ which possesses a romantic cadence and sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. Bolero music was born as a form of romantic folk poetry cultivated by a new breed of troubadour from Santiago de Cuba, the trovadores. Pepe Sánchez is considered the father of this movement and the author of the first bolero, Tristezas (sadnesses), written in 1883.
Below is a crude English translation (first two verses) of Amor de Loca Juventud (The Love of Crazy Youth):
The illusions of yesterday are already dying
That I satisfied with lustful love
And they also die with their cruel promises
The inspiration that one day I gave her
With candor I gave my entire soul
Thinking about our idyll consecrating
Without thinking what she was looking for was in me
It was the love of crazy youth
Amor de Loca Juventud was written by Cuban guitarist and composer Rafael Ortiz Rodríguez (image inset) in 1975. He transcended Cuban music because of his excellent quality as a composer.
Anyone who is even remotely interested in musical heritage should find Buena Vista captivating. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The group Buena Vista Social Club was named after the homonymous members’ club in the Buenavista quarter of Havana, a popular music venue in the 1940s. To showcase the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero (aforementioned) and danzón; they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for many years.
References:
1. Buena Vista Social Club – Wikipedia
2. Bolero – Wikipedia
3. Rafael Ortiz Rodríguez – Cubanos Famosos
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
That is a very cool song 🎵
Glad you liked it. The music ‘son cubanos’ (we are Cubans) is one of my favourite genres of music. What I would give to see this music played on the streets of Habana (like below). Watching it sober would be another story haha:
Very cool. I would love seeing it like that.
Yeh, right on. Habana I imagine has a huge music-turism market and for good reason.
I could have a crazy good time there lol
All this conversation about Habana reminds me of Zevon’s lyric:
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns, and money
Dad, get me out of this
Ha!
Crazy good song that one.
Love that song. Love Zevon.
He nailed it, didn’t he?! Max put me onto his ‘exciteable boy’ song. I had never heard it before but love it also.
He is very cool.
The album is a gem and so is the documentary. Nice to know what he’s singing. What a beautiful melody and the guitar playing is heavenly.
Hey, I always enjoyed reading your comments on Max’s blog. Thanks for chiming in and I’m thrilled you liked it so much.
You’re welcome, and thanks for bringing this excellent music back to me.
Very nice Matt!
I’m glad you liked ity Sharon.