Quite awhile ago I published this letra. It was fall not spring when I posted it, and at that time I was preparing to embark on the VERY FIRST Flamenco Tour to Jerez. Now as I get ready for the sixth (yes sixth!) tour, I'm re-posting it because:

#1: I've been admiring the daffodils blossoming all over Portland,

and

#2: It needed a picture. It never got a picture.

Enjoy:

Yo vengo vendiendo flores
las tuyas son amarillas
las mías de míl colores

I'll get to the translation in a moment,

But first let's talk about words

The same letra, different words. I love this about flamenco.

I don't mean completely different words, though there's that as well. But I'm talking right now about one letra and how each singer may vary the words slightly. Sometimes changing the sentido, the meaning, sometimes not.

Like today's letra. 

Cristo sang it like this, por bulerías:

Ando vendiendo flores
las tuyas son amarillas
y las mías de míl colores

Of course, he repeated lines and added in some ques and stuff...

Then I've heard others sing the letra this way:

Yo vengo vendiendo flores
las tuyas son amarillas
y las mías son de colores

Or, here Enrique Morente sings it like this, por soleá:

Tú vienes vendiendo flores
las mías son amarillas
las tuyas de tos colores

And yet another variation:

Gitana tú que vendes flores
las tuyas son amarillas
las mías de mil colores

I can't stop! Another variation:

Tú andas vendiendo flores,
las tuyas son amarillas,
las mias de dos colores.

You get the point.

One letra. Passed along by oral tradition. Interpreted differently.

In style.

In choice of words.

Even in the palo. It's sung por bulerías. Or soleá. Or soleá por bulerías. Or tangos. Or...

So, a translation. Just one translation:

I come selling flowers
yours are yellow
mine are of a thousand colors

There you go.

P.S. I shot that photo of the daffodils above on a walk last week. They were at Concordia University.

Comments

I would love to know what you think. Perhaps you'd like to share another way you've heard this letra done. You can leave a comment below.

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P.S. I shot that photo of the daffodils above on a walk last week. They were at Concordia University.