Serenades still sometimes happen in Mexico.

We got woken up one night by una serenata under la ventana de nuestra vecina (our neighbor’s window).

My wife thought it was so romantic. A real life vision from the time of sus abuelos (her grandparents).

The girl didn’t seem pleased though. She just stayed inside. She didn’t even show her face in the window. Elena said, “she must be angry with him”.

I guess it was a make-up-for-some-bad-behavior-serenade.

Eventually, our neighbor could resist no more. She came to the window and later opened the door…

The morning music I used to hear was very different to the romantic serenades.

Our apartment backed onto a car wash. The workers in the car wash played Mexican Banda and Norteña music all day long.

And they started early.

If you haven’t heard Mexican Norteña music it might sound offensive to your ears.

The culture of this music in the village dance halls is that anyone can have a go. However, just because someone has the gumption to try singing doesn’t mean they sing well.

In fact, most sing terribly,

Yet, after hearing the songs over and over I started to get used to the sound.

One song in particular “Profundamente” by “El Coyote y Su Banda” grew on me. I really started to like it. I still like it.

Back then I was teaching English to a group of nurses, a tough job but someone had to do it.

I remember one of the girls telling me she didn’t like handsome men like Brad Pitt. According to her, men should be fuerte, fornido y feo. (Strong, hefty and ugly.)

She would probably like El Coyote.

Music is a really good fun way to pick up words.

El Coyote’s nasal voice is a little difficult to understand at times. That’s why I have added a transcript and some hints to help you understand more of El Coyote’s Spanish.

Profundamente transcript

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