Skip to content
Lyric
Dive
Public playlists
My playlists
Search
Sign in
Spoken Liner Notes By The Family (Selena - Selena 20 Years Of Music)
A.B. Quintanilla III, Suzette Quintanilla, Ricky Vela, and Pete Astudillo
Popularity · Low
+
Original
0
0
YouTube
Searching YouTube...
Lyrics
Original
Translation
Bilingual
This album, the first release off of EMI, was recorded in 1989, and I
Remember it just like it was yesterday. My father receiving the phone
Call from Jose Becjar, the then existing president of EMI Latin, that
He was interested in recording us. We were just thrilled to be
Considered on a big label. At the time, EMI, it was called EMI
Capital, and eventually converted itself to EMI Latin. I was super
Thrilled. On my behalf, I had always produced the albums, so it was
Kind of a little scary because the record company was taking a big
Gamble on opening a Latin division, and they didn't want me to
Produce the album. So it was a little bit of a fight there, and we
Stuck together as a family, and Selena and Dad were real passionate
And said, "You know what? No, we gotta give A.V. the chance to do it
If he can't do it, then we'll get somebody else to do it." So it
Was very scary, not only for myself but I believe for Suzette, my
Dad, Selena, everybody, 'cause this is a huge label, and we really
At this point, we couldn't afford to take a failure, 'cause if we
Failed at it, we'd end up back at the bottom of the totem pole
But as time would tell, it was a very successful album for Selena
But the way I feel, anything that she sang, she just breathed
Something special into the songs. But as far as this album is
Concerned, I think this was our first masterpiece of many to come in
The sense that this album had a little bit of pop, a little bit of R
B on it. We kind of got a little more trendier and a little more
Cutting-edge. It was a great experimental album for us to
Kind of set us in the direction that Dad had originally
Set us on in the beginning, which was priming everything
For the English market or trying to infiltrate the pop market
And I think this album is a great example of a format that
We would further use and perfect as we went along the way
In 1989, when we joined the EMI Latin family, the very first
Album that we recorded was titled Selena, and one thing that
Really sticks out in my mind was where we done the photo shoot
For the cover of the album. It was a gravel pit in San Antonio
They made it look like we were out in some desert-like area
In 1989, we recorded Selena. It was our first record for our first
Album, should I say, for EMI Latin. Everybody was very
Excited. We were all excited about this album. It
Was our first album for a major label, such as EMI
And we were very excited and nervous at the same time
One of the songs that I remember was originally a Japanese song
Called "Sukiyaki," and I remember that I really liked the song
When it first came out, and then it came out with an American
Group, and I thought that a Spanish version would be nice. So Pete
Estudillo and I proceeded to write some Spanish lyrics for it
My name is Rick Vela. I used to play keyboards for the band. "
Sukiyaki" was interesting 'cause when we wrote it, well, I was in the
Room when they wrote it. I meant to help. They brought me in there
To help, but pretty much Pete did everything. It was pretty cool when
Pete came in the band because he's very good. He's very good as a
Lyricist. It helped a lot of the songwriting also, 'cause my Spanish
Was kinda, it was all right but not as good as his. Also on "
Sukiyaki," me and A.V. started getting a little bit more
Elaborate with our arrangement. We started bringing in
Using sequencers and stuff like that, so that really
Helped the arrangement a lot. And then, well, Selena, she
Sang it real nice. I think that track came out real good
I would have to say my favorite song off of Selena would be "
Sukiyaki." It was my father's idea to record it, and I think
Selena did an awesome job on it. I mean, it's a beautiful song
It's a little oriental feel to it, and I think she did her all
On it. She put her all in it. I think it's one of my favorites
I think that, if I remember correctly, the biggest
Hit out of that album was a song entitled "Contigo
Quiero Estar." It was a beautiful song, Tejano ranchera
"Contigo Quiero Estar." And I remember that was back when, well
Joe first got in the band with us, and back then, he had a D-
50, And, well, if you're a keyboard player, you know what I'm
Talking about. Back when the D-50 came out, it was the keyboard
I mean, the sounds were amazing. The keyboard sounds improved
Greatly, plus Joe, he was more a flashy player than I was
I would have to say that a very pivotal point for the career of
Selena Los Dinos as far as song selection is concerned, I would
Have to say that "Besitos" kind of threw us in that cumbia
Direction, and we started getting a little more experimental with
Cumbia. Even though it was one song on the album that was cumbia
I believe, it kind of set us in a certain direction. I think on
The next album, after the first album with EMI, you could really
Tell the difference of where we were heading with the music
Este es el disco Selena, el primer, también la primera producción en
La cual yo participé ya como cantante, como compositor y como
Integrante del grupo, los nuevos integrantes del grupo. "Besitos"
Es el primer tema en el cual colaboré con A.V. Es estarnos enlaredo
En un baile, realmente fue cuando nos conocimos la primera vez
Participamos con ellos en un evento, Joe Ojeda y un servidor
Los Bad Boys, y nos conocimos esa noche, y esa misma noche
Me presentó el concepto o la idea de este tema de "Besitos
" Y fue la primera canción con la cual colaboré yo con A.V.
Fue el principio de mi carrera como compositor al lado de A
V. Quintanilla, y la primera canción que compuse para Selena
Y Los Dinos que después llegué a ser parte de la agrupación
Este, "Ámame y Quiéreme" fue la primera canción, fue un dueto, en la
Cual yo colaboré ya como cantante, con Selena y Los Dinos. Este
Y realmente sí, estaba bien nervioso, principalmente porque pues
Pues yo nunca había estado en un estudio de grabación, después de
Estar grabando al lado de Selena. Y realmente, pues para qué yo digo
Mentiras, me sacaron del estudio porque no lo hice bien. El ingeniero
Me dijo: "Ve aprendete la canción, cuando te la aprendas, vienes y
Regresas y entonces te grabamos, y..." Para mí realmente me, me bajó
La moral y realmente, pues casi lloré. Porque mi sueño se me estaba
Yendo de mis manos, de poder grabar, y la primera vez que fui a
Hacerlo, lo hago tan mal que me corren del estudio, pero gracias
A Dios regresé al estudio y la segunda vez fue la vencida ya, en
Esa vez sí cumplí ya como cantante. Este, siempre que, que cantábamos
Duetos, este, en el escenario ya en vivo, siempre... Pues Selena
Era una persona con un buen sentido del humor y siempre buscaba
Una oportunidad para hacernos reír aunque estuviéramos trabajando
Y en la canción "Ámame y Quiéreme" o cualquiera de los duetos que
Cantáramos juntos en el escenario, pues hacíamos el papel de muy
Romántico para hacer el papel de la canción. Y en una ocasión me
Acuerdo que yo estaba cantando y se me... había una mosca rodeándome
La cabeza, y precisamente cuando iba a empezar a cantar yo, porque
Estábamos cantando juntos, pues se me separa la mosca en la frente
O en la nariz, no me acuerdo realmente si era la frente o la nariz
Y Selena no se pudo aguantar y empezó a carcajearse. Y por más
Que yo trataba de espantarme la mosca no se movía, y sinceramente
Y... Pues you had to be there, it's funnier when you were there
I think that was the first duet that Pete did with Selena
As far as recording. His first recording session was "Ámame
Y Quiéreme" and I know that Pete was really nervous and
Um, 'cause I don't think he'd ever been in the studio. It
Was very nice, it turned out really nice and I think that
The people liked it as well, so it made it even more special
"Tengo Ganas de Llorar," at the time we wrote it, I guess we needed
Another song so we got together and tried to write a song and the
Part he wrote, I thought was real cool, but my, the part that I came
Up with, I wasn't too happy with at the time, but in the end it came
Out okay. A.B. was just trying to be polite and he probably just let
It pass 'cause we needed another song. But anyway
You know, with Selena, you know, everything
Came out okay. She did a real good job on it
To be honest with you, my favorite, or the song that, on this album
That I really liked a lot, that came out really nice was a song that
Selena wrote and that myself and Ricky Vela arranged and produced
For her. It was a song called "My Love." And I love that song, it's
Kind of got a little flavor of like what was happening back in the
Day which had groups like Exposé and Sweet Sensation and so it's got
A real club feel to it, and I was really, really, really proud of
That song for Selena. It was her first, I believe, songwriting
Attempt and I was real happy for her
And the song is, it's a great song
Whenever we had to do, go into conjunto style, norteño style, I would
Always cringe a little bit because we didn't have a real accordion
And the accordion that I used, it was an old sample and when you
Went up too high or, it tended to sound kind of un-accordion-like
So when we would record, especially like "Mentiras," it's a real
Cool song, but I always cringe when I hear it 'cause of the accordion
Sound. Of course later on, we were able to get actual accordion
Players in the studios to, uh, the
Recordings later on sounded better
One of the songs that's a little bit different is "No Te Vayas
" It's got a, kind of like a cumbia-reggae type of beat to it
And I think that's where you could really hear the influence
That, you know, the music that A.B. liked putting that little
Drive into the cumbias that we had, and I think that's one
Of the first times that, you know, you can really hear that
Type of different rhythm to a cumbia, which is "No Te Vayas."
Para los fanáticos de Selena y Los Dinos, esto que se está haciendo de
Veinte años de música de Selena y Los Dinos es algo que es un labor
De amor. Lo estamos haciendo para todos los fans, los fanáticos de
Selena, para todos los coleccionistas
Y los invitamos que lo escuchen