Te Va a Doler (2003) – Maelo Ruiz

Te Va a Doler (You are Going to Hurt) was one of the first songs that made such a big impression on me after my arrival in Colombia. I still love hearing it when it comes on the radio here and my goodness is that often. The smoothness and profundity of Maelo Ruiz’s voice is impressive and the trumpeting and percussion is exquisite. I definitely recommend his live version performance at the end of this post which demonstrate those musical aspects in all its splendid glory including the audience reactions and interactions on stage.

So much fantastic music has featured here from the island Puerto Rico mainly of the ‘Salsa Rosa’ variety including today’s featured track. Well technically Ruiz is a New York City-born Puerto Rican Salsa singer who is identified within the Salsa romántica genre. Also, Te Va a Doler was written by the Salvadorean singer Alvaro Torres and you can listen to his ballad version here. So in short, El Salvador and Puerto Rico carry this song to us today.

Te Va a Doler at least lyrically is of the form ‘Despecho‘ which means out of spite and jealousy and remains a quite common theme in Latin music in general. The song expresses regret and a warning towards an ex-partner who made the wrong decision by leaving the narrator for someone else.

Maelo Ruiz, born Ismael Ruiz Hernández on October 22, 1966, in New York, USA moved to Puerto Rico with his family at the age of four. He began his formal music education at the age of 16, singing at the Antonio Paoli Free Music School in Caguas under the direction of Juan Pacheco.

Maelo Ruiz started his professional career at the age of 19 as the lead singer for Pedro Conga y Su Orquesta Internacional, where he recorded four albums and achieved significant success with hits like “No Te Quites la Ropa,” which sold over 50,000 units. In 1995, he released his first solo album, “Solo,” which spent four consecutive weeks at number one throughout Latin America.

I have presented below both the original studio version of Te Va a Doler from Maelo Ruiz’s 2003 album – En Tiempo De Amor (In the time of Love) and a live version.

A loose English translation follows:

[Verse 1]
It’s a shame that you’re like this
That you don’t like being led by the good
I don’t understand how you pretend to be happy
With that idiot who treats you like a nobody

[Pre-Chorus]
I know that one day you’ll need my love
And I’m not saying it out of spite even though it may seem like it
You made a mistake choosing between him and me
But you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life

[Chorus]
It’s going to hurt you
Sooner or later you’ll see what happens to you
When your skin no longer excites him and he abandons you
Or when you bitterly discover that he has someone else
It’s going to hurt you
As it’s hurting me now that you’re leaving me
But this love won’t last forever
And I’m warning you right now, better not come back

[Refrain]
(And I know it’s gonna hurt)
Sooner or later you’ll see what you get
When your skin no longer excites him when he kisses your mouth
(And I know it’s gonna hurt)
As it hurts me now
That you’re leaving me, that you’re leaving me
And so you don’t It matters
(And I know it’s going to hurt you)
I know that one day I’m going to miss you, my love

[Refrain]
(And I know it’s going to hurt you)
You made a mistake in choosing, you’re going to regret it
And so you won’t be able to live knowing that the pain is drowning you
(And I know it’s going to hurt you)
Because this love has to last forever

References:
1. Maelo Ruiz – Wikipedia
2. Álvaro Torres – Wikipedia