Back to Noriko Manabe's article

“Como esperando abril” (“As if waiting for April ” 1975?); in
Días y Flores, 1975

Esta canción empieza con mucho optimismo en Do mayor. Una persona está mirando la humedad desde la ventana. Y cuando pasa en Do menor, (canta) “y luego entro los ojos, chorreando en luz infinito,” es cuando uno está mirando a la luminosidad del día y después mira el interior de la casa. Se queda ciego, en ese momento, porque mira a la penumbra. (Canta) “Y tu pasas tocando el suelo con suave silencio”--porque no tiene zapatos—“y ciego”--porque en este momento no veo—“te sentencio”--como a ella yo diga, como llaman esas cosas, porque en ese momento yo no veo. Es una metáfora poco aparatosa. . .

También puede significar la fantasía afuera y la realidad adentro. Pero uno vuelve a la realidad de lo hay, teniendo alguien. Es importante de no estar solo en ese momento de ceguera, porque es cuando necesito una copa a vivir. Es muy romántico. Siempre me pareció esta canción como un cuadro de [René] Magritte, donde hay muchas ventanas (Rodríguez 2006, interview).^[1]

This allegorical song has an opening section in C major which I am labeling as the chorus (as it recurs with identical text); a modulatory bridge; and a contrasting middle section in C minor, which I am labeling the verse.

Fig. 11-“Como esperando abril,” Lyrics and chord charts

The chorus (Ex. 11A) finds the narrator looking out of his window, imagining the clouds to take fantastic shapes (“Las nubes de la mañana son una flor/que le ha nacido al tren./ Un reloj se transforma en cangrejo/y la capa de un viejo/da con una tempestad de comejen.”) The familiar diatonic progression I-vi-IV-V, the arpeggios in the melody (“una flor”), and the instrumental setting with flutes and strings render a relentless cheerfulness to the song.

Ex. 11A-“Como esperando abril,” Chorus

In the verse (Ex. 11B), as Rodríguez has described above, the narrator steps back into his apartment from the window, whereupon the listener discovers he is blind—temporary or otherwise (“es cuando necesito un perro,/un bastón, una mano, una fe”). In his blindness, he makes requests (or demands) of his companion or caretaker (“y ciego, te sentencio a que nombres/todo lo que ahora no sé”). The contrast in text between this verse and the chorus is underlined by its setting in C minor, the parallel minor of the chorus. These parallel keys reflect two opposing views between the chorus and verse: the light of the Caribbean sun vs. the darkness of an apartment (or blindness), as explicitly stated in the text – or more metaphorically, the fantasy that an individual or society wants to see vs. the reality of his existence.

Ex. 11B-“Como esperando abril,” Verse (C minor section)

Joining the two sections is a modulatory sequence (Bridge, “Mucho más allá de mi ventana/algodones jugaban a hacer un jardín/en espera de abril”) that steps down by thirds, hinting at C minor (through F minor=iv/Cm), G major (through D major=V/G), E major, and C major (through G major=V/C) along the way. The shifting tonalities seem illustrative of clouds changing shape, or more metaphorically, changing perceptions in society, with the people waiting expectantly for better times.

• [1] “This song starts optimistically in C major. A person is looking out at the humidity from the window. And when the song passes into C minor (sings from song) ‘and then I enter with my eyes flooding with infinite light,’ is when one is looking at the brightness of the day and afterwards, one looks into the interior of the house. One remains blinded, in that moment, because one is looking at the semidarkness. (Sings) ‘And you pass by touching the floor with soft silence’ --because you don’t have shoes—‘and blind’--because at this moment I can’t see—‘I sentence you’--as if I were to say to her, ‘What do you call those things,’ because at his moment I can’t see.  It’s a metaphor that’s a little exaggerated.
  
  “It could also mean the fantasy outside and the reality inside. But one returns to the reality that exists, having someone there. It’s important not to be alone in that moment of blindness, because that’s when you need a glass to live. It’s very romantic. This song always seemed to me like a painting by [René] Magritte, where there are many windows.”