Begin The Beguine (Volver A Empezar)

The speaker longs to restart a relationship after realizing it has ended. At first, the repeated wish to begin again sounds hopeful: he wants familiar feelings back and wants to know whether the other person still loves him. As the lyrics develop, that hope becomes regret. He admits he treated the other person’s love carelessly and assumed it would last, but now feels alone and would give a great deal for another chance.

The phrase “to begin again” is both a wish to return to the relationship and an attempt to undo past mistakes. “I played with your love” suggests that he did not take the other person’s feelings seriously, rather than describing a literal game. The questions about what became of the other person’s life and whether everything can be forgotten show that he is unsure whether the past can truly be left behind.

The repeated refrain gives the song a circular feeling: the speaker keeps returning to the same desire, but the lyrics do not say whether reconciliation is possible. His regret seems sincere, yet the song leaves open whether he wants to rebuild the relationship for the other person’s sake or mainly because he is lonely. “When they begin the beguine” introduces a musical cue associated in the lyrics with familiar feelings, but its exact meaning here remains unclear.