479. Selena, "Amor Prohibido"

 


Sadly, the first time I became aware of Selena was when she was shot and killed by the president of her own fan club in 1995. My familiarity with Tejano music remains sparse to this day.  

Listening to this album as a totally uninformed Gen X dude, the one thing I was immediately struck by was track 4, "Fotos y Recuerdos" because, here's the thing, it's basically a cover of "Back on the Chain Gang" by the Pretenders but with different words!  (Wiki calls it "sampling" but it's a lot more than just a sample.)  The original song is about a frustrating and unworkable relationship:

I found a picture of you, oh oh oh oh

What hijacked my world that night

To a place in the past

We've been cast out of? Oh oh oh oh

Now we're back in the fight

We're back on the train

Oh, back on the chain gang

Selena's version is more or less about the same thing:

I have a picture of you

that I kiss every night before I go to sleep

it's kind of ripped and its blurry

because of every tear I shed on it

 

and that's all I have of your love

only pictures and memories

I have a memory of you

that makes me so happy

Wild, huh?  Poor Selena.  

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