The Guantanamera Song originated as a serenade dedicated to a guajira guantanamera (“peasant woman from the city of Guantánamo”) and has as its background the independence struggles that inflamed Cuba in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (in that period first a Spanish colony and later a US colony). The romantic character of the Guantanamera Song, combined with the patriotic values it expresses, make it one of the most loved songs by Cubans. The refrain of the song “Guantanamera” refers to the Cuban territory of Guantánamo, which since 1898 has been occupied to the United States of America, which established a military base and a prison there.

The better known “official” lyrics are based on selections from the poetry collection Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) by Cuban poet and independence hero José Martí.

The four verses of the song were adapted from four stanzas of Versos Sencillos, each from a different poem.

The music for the Guantanamera song is sometimes also attributed to Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates (consensus puts 1929 as its year of origin), and who used it regularly in one of his radio programs.

Guantanamera

I’m an honest man
From where the palm trees grow
I’m an honest man
From where the palm trees grow
And before I die I want
to let my verses out of my soul

Chorus:
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera

My verse is clear green
And burning red
My verse is clear green
And burning red
My verse is a wounded deer
That seeks refuge in the mountain

Chorus:
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera

I cultivate a white rose
In June as in January
I cultivate a white rose
In June as in January
For a true friend
Who gives me his honest hand

Chorus:
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera

And for the cruel one that tears away from me
The heart with which I live
And for the cruel one that tears away from me
The heart with which I live
I cultivate neither thistles nor nettles
I cultivate the white rose

Chorus:
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera

With the poor people of the earth
I want to make my destiny
With the poor people of the earth
I want to make my destiny
The mountain stream
Pleases me more than the ocean

Chorus:
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera Guajira Guantanamera

…

..

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Guantanamera
Music: Joseíto Fernández
Lyrics: José Martí (Versos Sencillos)
Song Lyrics translated into English
Traditional folk Cuban song