Si Tú Te Vas (1986) – Juan Luis Guerra y 440

Si Tú Te Vas (English: If You Go) is one of the great successes of ‘merengue romántico’ music. It features Dominican singer songwriter Juan Luis Guerra and his group 440. Each sing a verse and it was the debut single from the 1985 album Mudanza y Acarreo and Guerra’s first ‘merengue’ song. Below I have presented their live version on The Midday Show, Dominican Republic in 1986 which includes to the right of screen a 29 year-old Juan Luis Guerra Y 4:40 (Roger Zayas, Mariela Mercado, Maridalia Hernandez). For many, today’s featured track Si Tú Te Vas represents the ‘beginning’ of Guerra’s commercial career.

Juan Luis Guerra is one of the most internationally acclaimed Latin artists in recent decades, and Si Tú Te Vas marks his eighth appearance here. His music, more than any other I can recall since moving to Colombia, has dominated the country’s airwaves. His popular style of merengue and Latin fusion has garnered him considerable success throughout Latin America. He is also credited for popularizing bachata music on a global level.

Mudanza y Acarreo (Spanish for House Moving and Haulage) is the second album by songwriter and musician Juan Luis Guerra. The album is widely known for making Guerra and 440 famous, and launching to national fame the group within their native Dominican Republic. Si tu te Vas is considered their first hit and was included in the Greatest Hits compilation Grandes Éxitos Juan Luis Guerra y 440 (1995). Lead singer Juan Luis Guerra and power-vocalist Maridalia Hernandez redefined 440’s sound to more traditional danceable merengue boundaries and made a more commercial turn to the band’s musical career.

A crude English translation of part of the lyrics follow below:

[Intro]
If you go, if you go
My heart will die
If you go, if you go
My heart will die
If you go

[Verse 1]
You are, my love, all I have
The sea that bathes me, the light that guides me
You are the home I inhabit
And if you go, I have nothing left
If you go

[Verse 2]
You are the mountain, ooh ooh
That my body seeks, ooh ooh
The river at night, ooh ooh
Spring, winter, ooh ooh

You are what I dream of, ooh ooh
I wake up, and if you go, ooh ooh
I have nothing left

[Verse 3]
You are, my life, the wheat that I sow
Everything I think, my voice, my joy
You are what I yearn for and crave, if you go away
I have nothing left if you go away

[Verse 4]
You are my life, ooh ooh
All my nourishment, ooh ooh
The story that rhymes, ooh ooh
If you are in my verses

You are the blanket, ooh ooh
My breath, ooh ooh
And if you go away
I have nothing left, oh no!

References:
1. Mudanza y Acarreo – Wikipedia