Bésame Mucho
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Bésame Mucho" is a Mexican song written in 1940 by Consuelo Velázquez before her sixteenth birthday. The phrase "bésame mucho" can be translated into English as "kiss me a lot". According to Velázquez, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time. Also she was inspired by the aria "Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruiseñor" from the Spanish 1916 opera Goyescas by Enrique Granados.
Emilio Tuero was the first to record the song. It has since been performed by many artists including, notably The Beatles, who often played it during live performances throughout 1962. The Beatles played the song along with fourteen other songs as part of their unsuccessful audition for Decca Records on January 1, 1962, with Paul McCartney on lead vocals. The Beatles would play "Bésame Mucho" again when they auditioned for EMI (and finally earned a record contract) on June 6, 1962. The June performance, featuring original Beatles' drummer Pete Best, was included on the 1995 compilation album Anthology 1. The Beatles also perform "Bésame Mucho" in their documentary film Let It Be. However, the band never released an official studio recording of the song.
The composition has been used on the soundtrack of numerous films including Great Expectations, A toda máquina, Moon Over Parador, Arizona Dream, Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, In Good Company, Paid, Juno, and Mona Lisa Smile.
The song is heard in the Miami Vice Season Three Episode "Viking Bikers From Hell." In that episode, the recurring character Izzy Moreno is performing the song for an elderly group in a Miami nursing home.
"Bésame Mucho" is also known by translated names such as "Kiss Me Much", "Kiss Me a Lot", "Kiss Me Again and Again", "Embrasse-Moi", "Stale Ma Bozkavaj" and "Szeretlek én".
