Asi estoy yo sin ti (Joaquin Sabina cover ) 9/365

"Asi estoy yo sin ti" was my introduction to Joaquin Sabina. I first heard it in 1988 in Santo Domingo on a radio station that for a while specialized in playing pop music from Spain from the so called Movida Madrileña, a movement of sorts.  Not everything was that of course and Sabina lived it but wasn't exactly a part of it. It was an artistic movement ushered in by the new freedoms Spanish society enjoyed when democracy finally took hold in the early 80's.

The song goes into metaphors about everything from a taxi in the desert, to a poet at the airport (this line always reminds me of an encounter I had with a Hare Krshna at Miami International in the early 90's, hitting me up for me. I was going to give him some when he said "be generous" which annoyed me, so I gave him nothing.)

The song is probably my favorite by Joaquin Sabina who some consider Spain's Bob Dylan, something he even sings about on his latest release Lo Niego Todo.
I play other songs by Sabina in a duo with my friend Cosco. Our setlist usually includes a least 3 or 4 of his tracks "19 dias y 500 noches" which is a rumba, "Contigo" a beautiful ballad, "Y nos dieron las diez" very much a ranchera, "Por el bulevar de los sueños rotos" a song dedicated to the late Chavela Vargas.

Sabina is a lyrical master, creating stories out of crazy rhymes and imagery. Sometimes he goes a bit overboard but his fans, me included, love him for it.

I started playing this song in the summer of 2014 while in Fiscal. Came up with the arrangement and said Hmm why not. I sing it an octave lower than the original but transpose up a few keys. The original is in G, so I sometimes play it in Bb or even C.

For this recording I used an SM57 on the guitar as well as plugging it into the mixer through a Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble. Vocal mic is a Shure SM7b, and on the Mackie Onyx 820i desk I use the Boss RV-2 reverb stompbox. All straight to Photo Booth on the Mac.

Thanks for watching and listening.

9/365 Joaquin Sabina - Asi estoy yo sin ti ( Hotel Dulce Hotel 1987)