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La Paloma

La Paloma

Overview
This article is about the song. For the American city, see La Paloma, Texas
La Paloma, Texas
La Paloma is a census-designated place in Cameron County, Texas, United States. The population was 354 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Brownsville–Harlingen Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

.



"La Paloma" is a popular song
Song
A song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....

, having been produced and reinterpreted in diverse cultures, settings, arrangements, and recordings over the last 140 years. The song was composed and written by Spanish composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...

 Sebastián Iradier
Sebastián Iradier
Sebastián Iradier Salaverri , a.k.a. Sebastián Yradier, was a Spanish Basque composer.Iradier was born in Lanciego, in the province of Álava. His publisher in Paris urged him to "universalize" his name, from Iradier to Yradier...

 (later Yradier) after he visited Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...

 in 1861. Iradier may have composed "La Paloma" around 1863, just two years before he died in Spain in obscurity, never to learn how popular his song would become.

The influence of the local Cuban habanera
Habanera (music)
The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...

 gives the song its characteristic and distinctive rhythm.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
This article is about the song. For the American city, see La Paloma, Texas
La Paloma, Texas
La Paloma is a census-designated place in Cameron County, Texas, United States. The population was 354 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Brownsville–Harlingen Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

.



"La Paloma" is a popular song
Song
A song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....

, having been produced and reinterpreted in diverse cultures, settings, arrangements, and recordings over the last 140 years. The song was composed and written by Spanish composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...

 Sebastián Iradier
Sebastián Iradier
Sebastián Iradier Salaverri , a.k.a. Sebastián Yradier, was a Spanish Basque composer.Iradier was born in Lanciego, in the province of Álava. His publisher in Paris urged him to "universalize" his name, from Iradier to Yradier...

 (later Yradier) after he visited Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...

 in 1861. Iradier may have composed "La Paloma" around 1863, just two years before he died in Spain in obscurity, never to learn how popular his song would become.

The influence of the local Cuban habanera
Habanera (music)
The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...

 gives the song its characteristic and distinctive rhythm. Very quickly "La Paloma" became popular in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and soon spread around the world. In many places, including Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...

, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...

, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...

, Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

, and Goa
Goa
Goa is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast.Panaji is...

 (the Indian state was occupied by the Portuguese till 1961) it gained the status of a quasi-folk song. Over the years the popularity of "La Paloma" has surged and receded periodically, but never subsided. It may be considered one of the first universal popular hits and has appealed to artists of diverse musical backgrounds.

The motif


The motif
Motif (art)
In art, a motif is a repeated idea, pattern, image, or theme. Paisley designs are referred to as motifs. Many designs in mosques in Islamic culture are motifs, especially those of flowers. Two major Roman motifs are egg and tongue, and ball and reel...

 of "Valgame Dios, Gonzalo es La Paloma" (the dove) can be traced back to an episode that occurred in 492 BC
492 BC
- Greece :* The first expedition of King Darius I of Persia against Greece commences under the leadership of his son-in-law and general, Mardonius...

 preliminary to Darius' invasion of Greece, a time when the white dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine birds. In general parlance the terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...

 had not yet been seen in Europe.
The Persian fleet under Mardonius
Mardonius
Mardonius was a leading Persian military commander during the Persian Wars with Greece in the early 5th century BC.-Early years:Mardonius was the son of Gobryas, a Persian nobleman who had assisted the Achaemenid prince Darius when he claimed the throne...

 was caught in a storm off the shore of Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia, of northern Greece, called in Greek Agion Oros , or in English, "Holy Mountain". In Classical times, the peninsula was called Aktí...

 and being wrecked when the Greeks observed white doves escaping from the sinking Persian ships. This inspired the notion that such birds bring home a final message of love from a sailor who is lost at sea. This theme that a final link of love overcomes death and separation is reflected in "La Paloma". While the lyrics may not always be true to the original, the soul of the song seems to survive all attempts to recast it in whatever new form and shape there may be and is able to express the tension between separation with loneliness, even death, and love.

Most recordings ever?


Guinness World Records lists Yesterday
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. According to the Guinness Book of Records, "Yesterday" has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United...

 by the Beatles as the most recorded song with apparently about 1,600 recordings.
It has been suggested that "La Paloma" has more than 2,000.

Notable events

  • "La Paloma" was a favorite of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, and at the same time the Mexican revolutionaries played and popularized it well. Legend has it, popularized by the movie Juarez
    Juarez (1939 film)
    Juarez is a 1939 film with Paul Muni, Brian Aherne, Bette Davis, and John Garfield about the conflict between Maximilian I, a European political dupe who, according to the film, is installed as the puppet ruler of Mexico by the French, and Benito Juarez, the country's president.Though Paul Muni and...

    , that as a last wish Maximilian requested it to be played at his execution.
  • As a correlate, Emperor Maximilian being a Habsburg
    Habsburg
    The House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...

    , ships of the Austrian Navy
    Austro-Hungarian Navy
    The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine...

     would never play the song.
  • First translations appeared already in 1865 in France
    France
    France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...

     and Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

    .
  • One of the first recordings that were made is the playing of "La Paloma" by the French Garde Républicaine in 1899.
  • The introduction of the Hawaiian guitar helped spread the popularity of "La Paloma".
  • Diverse lyrics have been created in many languages. In English the title "No More" was made popular by Elvis Presley
    Elvis Presley
    Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....

    .
  • La Paloma has been interpreted by musicians of diverse backgrounds including opera
    Opera
    Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

    , pop
    Pop music
    Pop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...

    , jazz
    Jazz
    Jazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....

    , rock
    Rock music
    Rock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....

    , military bands, and folk music
    Folk music
    The term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...

    .
  • The song entered the Guinness Book of World Records being sung by the largest choir
    Choir
    A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together is called a choir or chorus...

    , 88,600 people, in Hamburg
    Hamburg
    Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...

     on May 9, 2004.
  • It is played regularly at LA ARAUCANA restaurant in Brussels, most notably sung in the presence of her majesty Fadila Ben Meradi, first lady of Rome and Sabines champion.
  • A recently built cruise ship has it largest buffet called "La Paloma". The song is played constantly there. At first it sounds nice, but after a few days its true intention becomes clear: annoy so much that you leave the place as soon as possible, making space for other passengers.

  • Commodore George Dewey, after winning the Battle of Manila Bay, during the Spanish-American War, had his band play "La Paloma," the night after the battle. Many Filipinos had gathered on the beach to look out at the conquering American fleet. The Colonel of the Spanish artillery shot himself in the head while listening to the band that evening, being overcome with feelings of dishonor.

Famous performers



Among the many notable performers are:
  • Laurel Aitken
    Laurel Aitken
    Lorenzo Aitken , better known as Laurel Aitken, was a singer and one of the originators of Jamaican ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of ska".-Career:...

  • Hans Albers
    Hans Albers
    Hans Albers was a German actor and singer. He was the single biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1945 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century.- Life and work :...

    , in the 1944 German movie Große Freiheit Nr. 7
    Große Freiheit Nr. 7
    Große Freiheit Nr. 7 is a 1944 German musical drama film, named after Große Freiheit , a street next to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St...

     lyrics
  • Marietta Alboni
    Marietta Alboni
    Marietta Alboni was a renowned Italian contralto opera singer. With the exception of Maria Malibran, she was considered the greatest contralto of the nineteenth century....

     (la paloma estrenada por l' Alboni)
  • Victoria de los Ángeles
    Victoria de los Ángeles
    Victoria de los Ángeles was a Spanish Catalan operatic soprano and recitalist whose career began in the early 1940s and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s...

  • Joan Baez
    Joan Baez
    Joan Chandos Baez is a folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style...

  • Harry Belafonte
    Harry Belafonte
    Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. , is an American musician, actor and social activist. One of the most successful popular singers in history, he was dubbed the "King of Calypso", a title which he was very reluctant to accept for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an...

  • Mr. Acker Bilk
  • Carla Bley
    Carla Bley
    Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...

  • Ernesto Bonino
    Ernesto Bonino
    Ernesto Pietro Bonino was an Italian singer of pop and jazz standards whose peak of popularity was during the 1940s and 50s....

  • Maria Callas
    Maria Callas
    Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique with great dramatic gifts...

  • Chubby Checker
    Chubby Checker
    Chubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter best known for popularizing the The Twist with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...

  • Perry Como
    Perry Como
    Pierino "Perry" Como was an Italian-American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943. "Mr...

  • Bing Crosby
    Bing Crosby
    Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American popular singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half a century from 1926 until his death....

  • Comedian Harmonists
    Comedian Harmonists
    The Comedian Harmonists were an internationally famous, all-male German close harmony ensemble that performed between 1927 and 1934 as one of the most successful musical groups in Europe before World War II...

  • Emilio de Gogorza
    Emilio de Gogorza
    Emilio de Gogorza was a Spanish-American baritone.He was born in Brooklyn, New York but he sang in many languages, including French, English, Italian, and Spanish...

  • Plácido Domingo
    Plácido Domingo
    José Plácido Domingo Embil , better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor...

  • Fischer Chöre
  • Connie Francis
    Connie Francis
    Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero , known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer best known for several international hit songs including "Who's Sorry Now?," "Lipstick on Your Collar," "Where the Boys Are", and "Stupid Cupid." She topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on...

  • Merle Haggard
    Merle Haggard
    Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band "The Strangers" helped create the Bakersfield Sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies, and a...

  • Heino
    Heino
    Heino is a German singer of popular music and traditional Volksmusik....

  • Beniamino Gigli
    Beniamino Gigli
    Beniamino Gigli, was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism of his...

  • Bill Haley & His Comets
    Bill Haley & His Comets
    Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...

  • Julio Iglesias
    Julio Iglesias
    Julio Iglesias is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million copies in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music he is one of the top 10 best selling music artists ever...

  • Jack Jones
    Jack Jones
    Jack Jones may refer to:*Jack Jones , a fictional Texan tycoon in Oliver Stone's film Nixon*Jack Jones , American jazz and pop singer*Jack Jones , Welsh novelist and playwright...

  • Curd Jürgens
    Curd Jürgens
    Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...

  • Charles Kullmann
  • René Kollo
    René Kollo
    René Kollo is a German tenor.He was born René Kollodzieyski in Berlin and grew up in Wyk auf Föhr. He attended a photography school in Hamburg, although he had always been interested in music, particularly conducting. He did not begin to perform until the mid-50s...

  • Frankie Laine
    Frankie Laine
    Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...

     with Michel LeGrand
    Michel Legrand
    Michel Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist of French and Armenian descent....

  • Wei Wei
    Wei Wei (singer)
    Wei Wei is a Mandopop singer and actress. She was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and was raised in Liuzhou, Guangxi.Wei Wei has been an Olympic Ambassador for China since 1993 when the Chinese Olympic Committee applied for the games for the first time. She supported the Beijing 2008 Summer...

     and Julio Iglesias
    Julio Iglesias
    Julio Iglesias is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million copies in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music he is one of the top 10 best selling music artists ever...

  • James Last
    James Last
    James Last is a German composer and big band leader.-Biography:Last's father was an official at the public works department of the city of Bremen and he grew up in the suburb of Sebaldsbrück. He learned to play the piano from the age of 12, then switched to double bass as a teenager...

  • Dean Martin
    Dean Martin
    Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor and comedian. He was one of the best known musical artists of the 1950s and 1960s. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "Mambo Italiano", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That A Kick In The...

  • Mireille Mathieu
    Mireille Mathieu
    Mireille Mathieu is a French singer. She has achieved great success in France, as well as becoming an international superstar. She has performed and recorded songs in at least nine languages.-Biography:...

  • Jelly Roll Morton
    Jelly Roll Morton
    Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton claimed, in self-promotional hyperbole, to have invented jazz outright in 1902...

  • Mills Brothers
    Mills Brothers
    The Mills Brothers were a jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century producing more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and garnered at least three dozen gold records...

  • Nana Mouskouri
    Nana Mouskouri
    Nana Mouskouri , born as Ioanna Mouskouri on October 13, 1934, in Chania, Crete, Greece, is a singer who is confirmed to have sold over 200 million records worldwide in a career spanning over five decades, making her one of the world's best-selling female recording artists of all time. She was...

  • Charlie Parker
    Charlie Parker
    Charles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker, with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, is often considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians...

  • Luciano Pavarotti
    Luciano Pavarotti
    Luciano Pavarotti Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well-known for his televised concerts and media...

  • Perez Prado
    Perez Prado
    Perez Prado was a Cuban/Mexican bandleader and composer. He is commonly referred to as the "King of the Mambo"...

     & His Orchestra
  • Edith Piaf
    Édith Piaf
    Édith Piaf, born Édith Giovanna Gassion , was a French singer and cultural icon who "is almost universally regarded as France's greatest popular singer." Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...

  • Elvis Presley
    Elvis Presley
    Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....

    , (retitled "No More")
  • Freddy Quinn
    Freddy Quinn
    Freddy Quinn is an Austrian singer and actor whose popularity within the German-speaking world soared in the late 1950s and 1960s. Similar to Hans Albers two generations before him, Quinn adopted the persona of the rootless wanderer who goes to sea but longs for a home, family and friends...

  • Bill Ramsey
    Bill Ramsey
    William Thrace Ramsey, Jr. was a Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the Boston Braves in 1945. He was born in Osceola, Arkansas. On November 1, 1944, he had been drafted by the Boston Braves from the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1944 rule 5 draft...

  • Joseph Schmidt
  • Richard Tauber
    Richard Tauber
    Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...

  • Caterina Valente
    Caterina Valente
    Caterina Valente is a singer, dancer, and actress. She was born into an Italian artist family; her father Giuseppe was a well-known accordion player, her mother, Maria Valente, a musical clown...

  • Billy Vaughn
    Billy Vaughn
    Richard "Billy" Vaughn was a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and orchestra leader.He was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, where his father was a barber who loved music and inspired Billy to teach himself to play the mandolin at age 3, while suffering a case of the measles...

  • Ilse Werner
    Ilse Werner
    Ilse Werner was an actress and singer. She was born to a Dutch father and a German mother and was Dutch citizen by birth...

  • Rudy Weidoeft
    Rudy Weidoeft
    Rudolph "Rudy" Cornelius Wiedoeft was a U.S. saxophonist.Born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of German immigrants, at a young age Wiedoeft started playing with his family orchestra, first on violin, then on clarinet. He moved to New York City and switched to saxophone, then still an unusual...

  • Caetano Veloso
    Caetano Veloso
    Caetano Emanuel Vianna Telles Velloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. He has been called "one of the greatest songwriters of the century" and is sometimes considered to be the Bob Dylan of Brazil...

  • Olavi Virta
    Olavi Virta
    Olavi Virta was a Finnish singer, acclaimed as the king of Finnish tango. Between 1939 and 1966 he recorded almost 600 songs, many of which are classics of Finnish popular music, and appeared in many films and theatrical productions...

  • Klaus Wunderlich
    Klaus Wunderlich
    Klaus Wunderlich was a German musician.Wunderlich was born in Chemnitz and died in Engen from a heart attack....


Movies


La Paloma is played in these movies:
  • The Private Life of Don Juan
    The Private Life of Don Juan
    The Private Life of Don Juan is a film about the life of an aging Don Juan, based on the 1920 play L'homme à la Rose by Henry Bataille...

    , 1934
  • La Paloma, Ein Lied der Kameradschaft, 1934 (also listed as La Paloma, 1938)
  • Juarez
    Juarez (1939 film)
    Juarez is a 1939 film with Paul Muni, Brian Aherne, Bette Davis, and John Garfield about the conflict between Maximilian I, a European political dupe who, according to the film, is installed as the puppet ruler of Mexico by the French, and Benito Juarez, the country's president.Though Paul Muni and...

    , 1939
  • Große Freiheit Nr. 7
    Große Freiheit Nr. 7
    Große Freiheit Nr. 7 is a 1944 German musical drama film, named after Große Freiheit , a street next to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St...

    , 1944
  • La Paloma, Germany 1958,
  • Freddy, die Gitarre und das Meer, 1959
  • Freddy und der Millionär
  • Adua e le compagne, 1960
  • Blue Hawaii
    Blue Hawaii
    Blue Hawaii is a 1961 musical film set in the state of Hawaii and starring Elvis Presley.- Plot :Chadwick Gates has just gotten out of the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surfboard, his beach buddies, and his girlfriend. His mother wants him to go to work at the Great Southern...

    , 1961, Elvis Presley singing "No More"
  • Das Boot
    Das Boot
    Das Boot is a 1981 feature film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, adapted from a novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as a consultant, as did Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real U-96.The film is the story of a...

    , 1981
  • Mortelle Randonnée
    Mortelle randonnée
    Mortelle randonnée is a 1983 French thriller film inspired by the novel Eye of the Beholder by Marc Behm. Directed by filmmaker Claude Miller, the film stars Michel Serrault as The "Eye" Beauvoir, Isabelle Adjani as Catherine, and Geneviève Page as Mme. Schmidt-Boulanger...

    , 1983, Hans Albers singing a German version
  • Schtonk!
    Schtonk!
    Schtonk! is a satirical German movie, retelling the hoax of the Hitler Diaries.Subtitled Der Film zum Buch vom Führer , the movie is a grotesque farce about the events when, in 1983, German Stern magazine began to publish, with great fanfare, the 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler...

    , 1992, with these lyrics: "Hermann Hermann Willié,/ Mit 'nem Akzent auf dem E,/ Du bist die grösste Supernase/ Die ich am Bord hier seh."
  • The House of the Spirits
    The House of the Spirits (film)
    The House of the Spirits is a 1993 dramatic movie starring Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, and Antonio Banderas. The supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave and Maria Conchita Alonso...

    , 1993
  • Talk to Her
    Talk to Her
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The song "La Paloma" is the subject of the 2008 documentary La Paloma. Sehnsucht. Weltweit.

Unfortunately it is only a rumour that it was also played in Casablanca, a dance version during a nightclub scene in Paris.

Lyrics (Public Domain)

1. Cuando salí de la Habana
¡Valgame Dios!
Nadie me ha visto salir
Si no fuí yo.
Y una linda Guachinanga
S'allá voy yo,
Que se vino tras de mi,
Que sí señor.

Refrain:
Si a tu ventana llega Una Paloma,
Tratala con cariño, Que es mi persona.
Cuentale tus amores, Bien de mi vida,
Coronala de flores, Que es cosa mia.
Ay! chinita que sí!
Ay! que dame tu amor!
Ay! que vente conmigo,
Chinita, a donde vivo yo!

2. El dia nos casemos ¡Valgame Dios!
En la semana que hay ir Me hace reir
Desde la Iglesia juntitos, Que sí señor,
Nos hiremos à dormir, Allá voy yo.

(Refrain)

3. Cuando el curita nos eche La bendicion
En la Iglesia Catedral Allá voy yo
Yo te daré la manita Con mucho amor
Y el cura dos hisopazos Que sí señor

(Refrain)

4. Cuando haya pasado tiempo ¡Valgame Dios!
De que estemos casaditos Pues sí señor,
Lo menos tendremos siete Y que furor!
O quince guachinanguitos Allá voy yo

Literature

  • Rüdiger Bloemeke: „La Paloma – Das Jahrhundert-Lied“, 158 Seiten mit vielen Farb- und Schwarzweiß-Abbildungen, Voodoo Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-00-015586-4
  • Sigrid Faltin / Andreas Schäfler: La Paloma - das Lied., 180 Seiten + 4 CDs, Marebuch Verlag 2008, ISBN 3-866480881

External links