La Cita
Galy Galiano · 1992 · written by Alejandro Jaén, from the album Solo Salsa
She thinks she's meeting a secret admirer in a hotel room. The man waiting for her there is the one she's been cheating on.
The story
1.Imagine
The man speaking asks her to imagine he isn't himself: that he's the other man, the one she came here hoping to see.
2.The trap
That other man wrote her verses, drew her the moon on a scrap of paper, and set up a date with her in this hotel. But the hands that wrote the letter were his. His jealousy set the trap.
3.The surprise
She came expecting her lover and found him in the room instead. She's caught, and she knows it.
4.Goodbye
This is the last time she'll deceive him. It hurts, but he's leaving, for good.
Key phrases
- “Imagínate que yo no soy yo”Imagine that I'm not meThe opening line, and the whole trick of the song: he asks her to picture him as the other man.
- “te dibujó la luna”He drew you the moonThe secret admirer's romantic touch: a moon drawn on a scrap of paper.
- “te dio una cita en este hotel”He made a date with you in this hotelCita is a date or an appointment, and the song's title. Este hotel, “this hotel”: he's saying it from inside the room.
- “fueron mis manos las que te escribieron”It was my hands that wrote to youThe reveal: the admirer never existed.
- “me marcho para siempre”I'm leaving foreverMarcharse is to leave, to go away for good.
Context
Galy Galiano (Carmelo Galiano Cotes, born in 1958 in Chiriguaná, in Colombia's Cesar department) is a singer of romantic music who has moved between ballads, salsa and rancheras.
La Cita was written by the Spanish composer Alejandro Jaén and first recorded as a ballad by the Argentine singer Leonardo Favio in 1985. Galiano's salsa version came out in 1992 on Solo Salsa (Sonolux) and was a hit far beyond Colombia.
It's a classic of salsa romántica, the smoother, love-song salsa that ruled Latin radio in the late 1980s and the 1990s: less street story, more heartbreak.
On the dance floor
Mid-tempo and smooth, with a clear, steady beat: a great song for beginners, and for close, connected partnering.
The verses are told like a confession, and the chorus lifts them. Save your turns for the choruses and the instrumental breaks.
This is our own retelling of the song, not its lyrics or a translation of them: the few short phrases quoted are there to explain what they mean. The song belongs to its writer, Alejandro Jaén.