"Hasta Siempre, Comandante, or simply "Hasta Siempre", is a 1965 Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 song by Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n composer Carlos Puebla

Carlos Puebla

Carlos Manuel Puebla was a Cuban singer, guitarist, and composer. He was a member of the old trova movement who specialized in boleros and nationalistic songs.- Biography :...

. The song's lyrics are a reply to revolutionary Che Guevara

Che Guevara

Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...

's farewell letter when he left Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, in order to foster revolution in the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 and later Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, where he would be captured and murdered.

The lyrics recount key moments of the Cuban Revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

, describing Che Guevara and his role as a revolutionary commander. The song became iconic after Guevara's death, and many left-leaning artists did their own cover versions of the song afterwards. The title is a part of Guevara's well known saying "¡Hasta la victoria siempre!" ("Until the eternal victory!").

Metrical structure

Like many of the songs of the author and in line with the tradition of the Cuban and Caribbean music, the song consists of a refrain plus a series of five verses (quatrain

Quatrain

A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...

), rhyming ABBA, with each line written in octosyllabic verse.

5th stanza:

[1] (1)Vie-(2)nes (3)que-(4)man-(5)do (6)la (7)bri-(8)sa

[2] (1)con (2)so-(3)les (4)de (5)pri-(6)ma-(7)ve-(8)ra

[3] (1)pa-(2)ra (3)plan-(4)tar (5)la (6)ban-(7)de-(8)ra

[4] (1)con (2)la (3)luz (4)de (5)tu (6)son-(7)ri-(8)sa

Lyrics

Original lyrics in Spanish

Aprendimos a quererte

desde la histórica altura

donde el Sol de tu bravura

le puso cerco a la muerte.

Chorus:

Aquí se queda la clara,

la entrañable transparencia,

de tu querida presencia,

Comandante Che Guevara.

Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte

sobre la Historia dispara

cuando todo Santa Clara

se despierta para verte.

[Chorus]

Vienes quemando la brisa

con soles de primavera

para plantar la bandera

con la luz de tu sonrisa.

[Chorus]

Tu amor revolucionario

te conduce a nueva empresa

donde esperan la firmeza

de tu brazo libertario.

[Chorus]

Seguiremos adelante,

como junto a tí seguimos,

y con Fidel te decimos :

«¡Hasta siempre, Comandante!»

[Chorus]

Translated English lyrics

We learned to love you

from the historical heights

Sierra Maestra

Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province from what is now Guantánamo Province to Niquero in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. Some view it as a series of connecting ranges , which joins with others extending to the west...

where the sun of your bravery

laid siege to death

Chorus:

Here lies the clear,

the deep transparency

of your beloved presence,

Comandante Che Guevara

Your glorious and strong hand

over History it shoots

when all of Santa Clara

Santa Clara

Santa Clara may refer to:-People:* Saint Clare of Assisi , known in Spanish as Santa Clara* Saint Clare of Montefalco -Portugal:...

awakens to see you

[Chorus]

You come burning the breeze

with springtime suns

to plant the flag

with the light of your smile

[Chorus]

Your revolutionary love

leads you to new undertaking

where yearned is the firmness

of your liberating arm

[Chorus]

We will carry on

as we followed you then

and with Fidel

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 we say to you:

"Until always, Commandant!"

[Chorus]

Versions

There are more than 200 versions of this song. The song has also been covered by Los Calchakis, Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo was a Cuban trova guitarist, singer and composer.-Biography:...

, Soledad Bravo

Soledad Bravo

Soledad Bravo , is a Venezuelan singer.Born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain her father was a Spanish republican, moving to Venezuela with his family when his daughter was still at an early age. At 24, Soledad began studying architecture and philosophy at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where she...

, Óscar Chávez

Óscar Chávez

Óscar Chávez is a Mexican singer, songwriter and actor. He was the main exponent of the Nueva Trova in Mexico in the sixties and seventies. He studied theatre at the UNAM and has produced and acted in several plays and movies and telenovelas in Mexico...

, Nathalie Cardone

Nathalie Cardone

Nathalie Cardone is a French actress and singer. She was born to a Sicilian father and a Spanish mother.-Biography:...

, Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...

, Inés Rivero

Ines Rivero

María Inés Rivero is an Argentine model.- Life and career :Rivero was born in Córdoba, Argentina. Her mother enrolled her into a modeling school, and she made her modeling debut at the age of 14, when she worked in a local fashion show...

, Silvio Rodríguez

Silvio Rodríguez

Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez is a Cuban musician, and a leader of the nueva trova movement.He is considered Cuba's best known folk singer and known for his highly eloquent and symbolic lyrics. Many of his songs have become classics in Latin American music, such as Ojalá, Playa Girón, Unicornio and...

, Angel Parra

Ángel Parra

Ángel Cereceda Parra is a Chilean singer and songwriter, son of Violeta Parra, notable Chilean folklorist and brother of Isabel Parra. He travels abroad helping to maintain the Nueva Canción tradition in Chilean expatriate communities in Europe, North America, and Australia. His son -also named...

, Celso Piña

Celso Pina

Celso Piña is a professional singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist mainly in the genre of cumbia.Celso Piña is a pioneer in the mixture and fusion of tropical sounds with many of his works having elements of musica norteña, sonidero, ska, reggae, rap/hip-hop, R&B, etc...

, Walter Cesar, Xesco Boix, Wayna taki, Veronica Rapella, Rolando Alarcón

Rolando Alarcón

Rolando Alarcón Soto was a teacher, folklorist, soloist and composer living in Chile. He became a national-known figure in his homecountry due to his work as a musician, and at his funeral, even the president, Salvador Allende, expressed his regrets....

, Los Olimareños

Los Olimareños

Los Olimareños was a popular Uruguayan singing group originally formed by Pepe Guerra, Waldemar Sasías and Braulio López, who then took shaping the duo composed by Pepe and Braulio, it is estimated that in 1962.-History:...

, Julio Cesar Barbosa, Los Machucambos, Ciganos D'Ouro, Maria Farantouri

Maria Farantouri

Maria Farantouri was born in Athens on 28 November 1947. She is a Greek singer and also a political and cultural activist. She has collaborated with prominent Greek composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, who wrote the score for Pablo Neruda's Canto General, which Farantouri performed...

, Jan Garbarek, Wolf Biermann

Wolf Biermann

Karl Wolf Biermann is a German singer-songwriter and former East German dissident.-Early life:Biermann's father, who worked on the Hamburg docks, was a German Jew and a member of the German Resistance....

, Boikot

Boikot

- History :The band started in 1987 playing at bars, parties and every type of dive. After a pair of adjustments to the band's lineup they recorded two albums with the label Barrabás. They made themselves known by playing in venues across Madrid until 1995 when they split with Barrabás and decided...

, The Buena Vista Social Club, George Dalaras

George Dalaras

George Dalaras , also possibly spelled as Yorgos or Giorgos Dalaras, is a Greek singer. He is of international fame and has recently been selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Nea Kokinia, Piraeus. His father was Loukas Daralas, a singer of rebetiko.-Early...

, Giovanni Mirabassi

Giovanni Mirabassi

Giovanni Mirabassi is a Paris-based Italian jazz pianist, born in Perugia, Italy.Self-taught, he learned by listening to Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Oscar Peterson. He is strongly influenced by Enrico Pieranunzi...

 and Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...

, Ahmet Koç

Ahmet Koç

- Before the "Paradoks" :He appeared and played bağlama with the female singer Şebnem Paker at Eurovision Song Contest 1997, in Dublin, where they represented Turkey and came in 3rd place...

, Mohsen Namjoo

Mohsen Namjoo

Mohsen Namjoo, , is an Iranian musician, singer-songwriter. born in 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town in northeastern Iran. The New York Times called Namjoo "Iran's Bob Dylan".-Career:...

 among others.

In some versions, like one version by the Buena Vista Social Club in 2003, the last verses were changed from "y con Fidel te decimos : «¡Hasta siempre, Comandante!»" to "y con Cuba te decimos : «¡Hasta siempre, Comandante!»".

External links

• Poems & speeches about Che Guevara
• Hasta Siempre Comandante - English & Spanish lyrics
• Hasta Siempre performed live by Nathalie Cardone
  Nathalie Cardone
  Nathalie Cardone is a French actress and singer. She was born to a Sicilian father and a Spanish mother.-Biography:...
  
  
• Hasta Siempre performed live by Silvio Rodriguez
  Silvio Rodríguez
  Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez is a Cuban musician, and a leader of the nueva trova movement.He is considered Cuba's best known folk singer and known for his highly eloquent and symbolic lyrics. Many of his songs have become classics in Latin American music, such as Ojalá, Playa Girón, Unicornio and...
  
  
• All versions of Some musics - 200 versions of Hasta Siempre, Comandante