Songs from Women of Pan America: Songs of María Grever

0:10 Te quiero dijiste…Muñequita linda (You Said, “I Love You”…Delightful Little Doll)
3:09 Júrame (Swear to Me/Promise Me)
6:08 Cuando vuelva a tu lado (When I Return to Your Side)…What a Difference a Day Made
The programming of popular musics is important to Velarde, and the songs of María Grever (1885-1951) (Mexico), popular in the USA during the 1920s and 30s, a time when Velarde’s grandfather was an active theater organist in Chicago, Illinois, led her to these songs. Many of Grever’s works are standard repertoire for Mexican mariachi singers.
María Grever was a successful composer in her lifetime, and many of her songs, estimated to be in the hundreds, have been performed by singers such as Plácido Domingo and Aretha Franklin. During her career, she wrote film scores and lyrics for Broadway shows and organized concerts which combined music, theater, song, and dance. Her songs are often direct, yet romantic and full of feeling. While her Spanish lyrics are her own, she collaborated with lyricists Stanley Adams, Irving Caesar, and Raymond Leveen to produce English versions to accompany her melodies. In “Cuando vuelva a tu lado…What a Difference a Day Made,” that these are not translations can be plainly seen. This song is one of her most enduring melodies, with “covers” recorded even today. Grever was named "Woman of the Americas" before her death in 1952 by the Union of Women of the Americas (UWA). She was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
Score sources:
Grever, María. Júrame. Musicnotes.com. www.sheetmusic.... Accessed December 27, 2021.
Grever, María. Mucho, mucho. Musicnotes.com. www.musicnotes.... Accessed December 27, 2021.
Grever, María. Te Quiero Dijiste (Magic Is the Moonlight). Musicnotes.com. www.musicnotes.... Accessed December 27, 2021.
Adams, Stanley and María Grever. What a Difference a Day Made. Musicnotes.com. www.musicnotes.... Accessed December 27, 2021.
Adams, Stanley and María Grever. What a Diff’rence a Day Made. SheetMusicPlus.com. www.sheetmusic.... Accessed December 27, 2021.
Te quiero dijiste…Muñequita linda (You Said, “I Love You”…Delightful Little Doll)--translated by Rachel Velarde
You said, “I love you,”
Taking my hands between your hands
Of ivory white.
And I felt in my chest
A strong heartbeat,
Then a sigh,
And then the snap of a feverish kiss.
Delightful little doll,
With golden hair,
With pearly teeth,
[With] ruby lips.
Tell me if you love me the way I adore you,
If you remember me, like I remember you.
And sometimes I hear a divine echo
Wrapped in the breeze that seems to say:
"Yes, I love you very much,
very, very, very much,
As much as I did then, always, until I die".
Júrame (Swear to Me/Promise Me)--translated by Rachel Velarde
Everyone says that it is a lie that I love you,
Because no one has ever seen me in love,
I swear to you that I myself do not understand
Why your face has fascinated me so.
When you are near me and are happy,
I don’t want you to remember anyone else,
I am jealous even at a thought
That can remind you of another love.
Promise me that even if a long time passes,
Never will you forget the moment that we met.
Look at me, because there is nothing deeper
Nor greater in this world than the love I gave to you.
Kiss me, with a loving kiss,
As nobody has kissed me
Since the day I was born.
Love me, love me to the point of madness,
So you will know the sorrow
That I suffer because of you.
Cuando vuelva a tu lado (When I Return to Your Side)--translated by Arturo and Rachel Velarde
Do you remember that kiss, which you denied me in jest?
It unintentionally escaped from your lips.
Scared as it looked for shelter
In the intense bitterness of my being.
When I return to your side
Don’t deny me your kisses.
Let the love that I have to give you
Be unforgettable.
Don’t ask me anything,
For I will explain nothing to you
That the kiss you denied me,
You now cannot give.
When I return to your side
And you are alone with me,
The things that I tell you,
From compassion, don’t ever repeat,
Join your lips with mine
And hold me in your arms,
And count the beats
Of our heart.
What a Difference a Day Made--Text by Stanley Adams
What a diff’rence a day made,
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain.
My yesterday was blue, dear,
Today I’m a part of you dear.
My lonely nights are through dear
Since you said you were mine.
What a diff’rence a day made
There’s a rainbow before me.
Skies above can’t be stormy
Since the moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss.
It’s heaven when you
Find romance on your menu.
What a diff’rence a day made.
And the diff’rence is you.