“Sabor a mí” (Álvaro Carrillo)

“Sabor a mi” performed by Luis Miguel (YouTube)
“Sabor a mi” performed by Alvaro Carrillo (YouTube)
Country: Mexico (México)
Language: Spanish (Español)
Genre: Bolero, Cuban-Bolero

“Sabor a mí”
Álvaro Carrillo
1950-1965? 

Tanto tiempo disfrutamos de este amor
Nuestras almas se acercaron tanto así
que yo guardo tu sabor
pero tú llevas también sabor a mí

Si negaras mi presencia en tu vivir
bastaría con abrazarte y conversar
tanto vida yo te di
que por fuerza tienes ya sabor a mí

No pretendo ser tu dueño
no soy nada, yo no tengo vanidad
de mi vida doy  lo bueno
soy tan pobre, ¿qué otra cosa puedo dar?

Pasarán más de mil años, muchos más
yo no sé si tenga, amor, la eternidad
pero allá, tal como como aquí
en la boca llevarás sabor a mí

“Flavor of me” (English translation, ORS 2011)

For so long we enjoyed this love
our souls grew so close this way
that I keep your flavor
but you carry, as well, the flavor of me

If you were to deny my presence in your life
it would be enough to embrace you and converse
so much life I gave you
that by force you have the flavor of me

I’m not trying to be your owner
I’m nothing, I have no vanity
From my life, I give what’s good
I’m so poor, what else can I give?

A thousand years will pass, many more
I don’t know if I have, love, eternity
But there, just as here
In your mouth, you will carry the flavor of me

Vocabulary & Etymology
1.  Sabor – (m. noun) taste, flavor; used with preposition “a” as in “sabor a mi” to mean the flavor “of” something; from L. saporem “taste, flavor”

2.  Negar – (verb) to deny, refuse; from L. negare “to deny, say no”; “deny” from de (away) negare (refuse).

3.  Pretender – (verb) to try to, to expect; also to woo, to court; usually expresses a hopeful attempt; from L. praetendere “to stretch in front, allege” from prae (before) and tendere (to stretch).  Used like Enligh pretend, in the sense of “laying a claim”, but not to be confused with pretend in the sense of feigning something (expressed by Spanish verb fingir)

Grammar

1.  To Try, To Attempt

There are various ways to express “to try”  in Spanish.   Some of the verbs typically used are intentar, tentar, tratar, procurar, probar, pretender, etc. Here are the basic patterns.

Él intenta concentrarse – he attempts to concentrate (intentar + infinitive)
Él trata de concentrarse  – he tries to concentrate (tratar de + infinitive)
Él prueba a llamarme – he resorts to trying to call me (probar a + infinitive)

Él prueba la comida – he tries (“probes”) the food (probar + noun)*
Él prueba con otro tipo de… – he gives it a try with another type of (probar con + noun)

*Probarse in used in Spanish for trying on clothes.

In this song, the line “No pretendo ser tu dueño” uses the verb pretender which carrie the implication of an expectation or claim, as in “I’m not trying to become your master”

Note that Portuguese, typically tentar is used for “to try”, while experimentar (and sometimes provar) are used for trying food and trying on clothes.

Ele tenta concentar – he tries to concentrate (tentar + infintive)
Ele experimenta/prova a comida – he tries the food (experimentar/provar +noun)

Italian uses similar verbs, as well: tentare + infintive and provare a + infinitive, but French uses another concept essayer (de), which is related to L. exagire, or ex (out) + agere (act), meaning “to weigh”.