25 of the Best Vicente Fernandez Songs of All Time
Vicente Fernandez is a huge icon in Latin music
Photo: Flickr/Julio Enriquez
Vicente Fernandez is a huge icon in Latin music. The Mexicano from Huentitán is known as El Rey de la Musica Ranchera, for his 50-plus-year career in the genre. The also actor and film producer has released more than 80 albums and has sold 50 million of them worldwide, cementing his status as a musical legend.
On February 17, Chente turns 80, and we wanted to use the day to take a look at some of his biggest, best-known, and best-loved hits. Many of these 25 songs (which we are sharing with videos and some of the lyrics) you’ll probably know, having heard them at tons of family parties, performed on several award stages, and forever pressed on vintage vinyl for decades.
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“Volver, Volver”
Off of his 1972 album, ¡Arriba Huentitán!, “Volver, Volver” is Vicente Fernandez’s biggest hit. All you have to do is hear those two words to instantly sing along at the top of your lungs. It is an iconic song about wanting to return to a relationship.
“We left some time ago
But it was time
to lose
You were very right
I listen to my heart
And I’m dying to return
your arms again
I’ll get where you are
I know how to lose, I know how to lose
I want to come back, come back, come back”
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“Por Tu Maldito Amor”
Another Vicente Fernandez classic is “Por Tu Maldito Amor.” The song is a single off the 1989 album of the same name. It speaks on love gone wrong and having a broken heart.
“The day I found you, I fell in love
You know that I have never denied it
With viciousness, you managed to drive me crazy
And I fell into your deluded trap
Suddenly all that was over
You sank me into oblivion for believing
That to the years would never come
I can’t end with so many sorrows
I would like to burst into my veins
For your damn love
For your damn love”wp_*posts
“El Rey”
But the day I die I
know you’ll have to cry
cry and cry
But you will be very sad
And so you will stay
I always do what I want
And my word is the law
I have no throne or queen
Nor anyone who understands me
But I’m still the king
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“Para Siempre”
Next on our list of the biggest Vicente Fernandez songs of all time is “Para Siempre.” This song was written and produced by another Mexican music legend — Joan Sebastian — and is from the 2008 album Para Siempre (which he also produced). It was the theme song for the novela, Fuego en la sangre.
“Forget the past
And what people say
The truth is, that I love you
And you love me, forever
Forget the past
And live the present
What matters is that you love me
And I love you, forever”
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“Mujeres Divinas”
“Mujeres Divinas” sings the praises of women, even after men have been hurt by them. The song was released in the 1990s, and remains one of Vicente Fernandez’s top-rated songs.
“He told me I am one of the beings
that has endured the most failures
And the women always left me
Crying and with my soul in pieces
But I never reproach my wounds
You have to suffer when you love
The most beautiful hours of my life
I have spent next to a lady
We could die in the canteens
And we could never forget them
Women, oh women so divine
There is no other way but to worship them
Women, oh women so divine
There is no other way but to adore them”
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“Que De Raro Tiene”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aRNYB8kCFk
In 1992, Vicente Fernandez released the album Que De Raro Tiene, which also includes its title track. The song is classic Chente — suffering beautifully over the love of a woman.
“To all those who want to
know my tragedy, I will tell it
I always held
That there is no other being in the world
That has beauty
From head to toe like the woman
They are life
The divine spark, the raison d’être
How strange
That I have lost myself to a woman
How strange
that I am dying for a woman”
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“Aca Entre Nos”
“Aca Entre Nos” is another song of heartbreak by Vicente Fernandez. It is also off the 1992 album, Que de Raro Tiene and talks about pretending to be over love and lying about that to friends. Chente then lets down his macho guard around his ex, admitting the truth to his ex that he is truly devastated about their breakup.
“Here between us
I want you to know the truth
I have not stopped worshiping you
There in my sad loneliness
I have wanted to scream
Running out and asking
What has happened to your life
Here between us
I will always remember you
And today that by my side you are
no more There is nothing more to confess
That I can no longer stand
That I am hating without hating
Because I breathe from the wound”
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“La Diferencia”
Written and originally recorded by the iconic Mexicano Juan Gabriel in 1980, “La Diferencia” was recorded by Vicente Fernandez and released in 1982. The song, yet another about the topic of love, laments about having deep feelings for someone who doesn’t feel the same way.
“I know that you will never want to love me
That your love, I arrived too late
Do not despise me, it is not my fault, do not be bad
Because you are the one I want to fall in love with
What harm can I do to love you
If you do not love me, I understand it
Perfectly I know that I was not born for you
But what can I do, if I already love you
Let me live this way
I love you as and without conditions
Without waiting for one day, you want me as I
am aware I am my love, you will never love me”
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“¿De Que Manera te Olvido?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJYH1rMb988
As you can tell by this selection of some of the greatest Chente songs, Vicente Fernandez’s music is all about getting all in your feelings over love. And “¿De Que Manera te Olvido?” is no different. The song, off of his 1984 Un Mexicano En La México, is yet another iconic jam about love lost.
“You will see that I have not changed
that I am in love,
maybe just like yesterday.
Maybe
they told you, they just looked at me,
crying your love
And I am not ashamed,
that even with the experience
that life gave me.
I cling to your love,
and although I no longer have you,
I cannot forget you”
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“Mi Viejo”
One thing that you can say about Vicente Fernandez’s music is that it is very sentimental. It hits you in the heart and speaks to emotions we all have had. It’s also universal, yet very Mexican. A song that Chente is known for that is brimming with warmth and love is “Mi Viejo,” a song of love, from son to father.
“Old man, my dear old man
Now you walk slowly
As if forgiving the wind
I am your blood, my old man
I am your silence and your time”
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“Me Voy a Quitar de en Medio”
Part of his 1998 album, Entre El Amor y Yo, “Me Voy a Quitar de en Medio” is a Chente song that deals with a common theme amongst his recordings–heartbreak and unrequited love.
“If you leave me, do not forget me,
Please never forget me,
You know how much I love you,
That I have always loved you,
If you leave me, do not forget me,
Please never forget me,
I will get out of the way…”
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“No Me Se Rajar”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfu_YnuI5rQ
Vicente Fernandez believes in love and won’t let anyone get in the way of that. That is the common thread amongst most of his music, but especially in the song, “No Me Se Rajar.”
“They think to scare me to leave you
But nobody can ever do it
As long as you love me I will be present
Near your home to talk
Who just presume to shield
I am one of the men who fear nothing
And although I am lost I will not crack”
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“La Ley del Monte”
“La Ley del Monte” is a Vicente Fernandez song, and also the name of a film he starred in 1976. Like so many of Chente’s songs, it too speaks about lost love and being left with feelings that are now unreciprocated.
“The law of the mountain
I recorded your name on the stalk of an aloe
joined to mine, interlaced. Like a proof
before the law of the mountain
that there we were in love.
You were the one who searched for the stalk
the prettiest, the most slender.
And you even told me to also record
two hearts with an arrow.
Now you say that you don’t remember,
that nothing is true, that they’re just words.
I do not worry because in the end
the stalks will talk about our romance.”
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“Las Mañanitas”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVNGoPF-xqQ
Las Mañanitas is a classic song that everyone sings to their loved ones on their birthday. But when Vicente Fernandez sings it, it becomes next level. Just press play next time it’s someone’s cumpleaños.
“These are the mornings
That King David sang
Today for being the day of your saint
We sing them to you
Look it is already dawning
Already the little birds sing
The moon has already gone
When I come to greet you
We all come with pleasure
And pleasure to congratulate you”
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“Sublime Mujer”
Vicente Fernandez loves to sing about love. In his song, “Sublime Mujer,” he falls at the feet of women, declaring his undying love for them.
“Why do I have more than one love in my life? People judge me
Why I have not respected the laws that govern our society
Because I have not been able to stop the steed that agitates the desire
Because I have not managed to spend seven nights in the same bed
I surrender to the being called woman
If you are one of the men who have consecrated a woman
For God I congratulate you, tell me the secret faithful companion
To be a slave, romantic and crazy of the most beautiful being
But what will I do if it is my way of being
I was born to love you sublime woman”
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“Borracho de Recuerdo”
“Borracho de Recuerdo” is one of the love songs off of Vicente Fernandez’s 2000 album, Lobo Herido. In 2001, it won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Song.
“I do not know why drunk I remember you
If in my judgment you never live in my mind It
may be that there on the bottom not too deep
Just live, just live to love you”
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“Amor de Los Dos”
“Amor de Los Dos” is a song that Vicente Fernandez has sung with both Chinese-Mexican icon Ana Gabriel and his son, singer Alejandro Fernandez.
“My life is your life
Love of the two
You make me suffer
You will pay for it
You have no forgiveness
Forgive me
If I have offended you
Forgive me
Have compassion”
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“Hermoso Cariño”
Another sweet song in Vicente Fernandez music catalog is “Hermoso Cariño.” Sung from parent to child, it is a moment to thank God for the blessing.
“Precious gift
Precious gift
From heaven has come
And that has filled me with joy and love
Beautiful baby
Beautiful baby
I’m already like a child
With a new toy happy and happy”
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“Dos Corazones”
Next on our list of Chente songs you should know and love is “Dos Corazones.” The love song was a duet with Chicana legend Vicki Carr. It peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1988.
“This is no accident.
I wanted to see you again. I
can tell
you that I love you until death. ” I will not
lie either.”
That I had not missed you.
If today you’re here by my side
I won’t let you leave)
I wonder too
-I have never stopped loving
you I adore you
-You taught me to love
With so much love
(With a lot of fire in the blood)
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“Palabra de Rey”
“Palabra de Rey” is a single off the 1969 album of the same name. Like so many other Vicente Fernandez songs, it shows his sensitive, romantic side, and gives us all a soundtrack to heartbreak.
“I leave you free the way
I will not force your destiny
I give you my word
King’s word
The doors are open
I want nothing to force
When there is no remedy
For what to deny
If you do not want to stay
If you have already learned to forget
You can leave if you want
Just do not tell me where you are going”
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“Estos Celos”
In “Estos Celos,” a well-known, well-loved Chente song, Fernandez admits to jealousy after losing the woman he loves. Realizing too late that he had it all with her, he worries that someone else will receive her affection.
“I looked at you
With your mane in the wind and your look
Flush with your neckline, your mole
Ayyy there is love
Ayyy there is pain
Today I die of thinking
That I will not be the one you are going to love
never learn to live without you
The worst thing is that very late I understood yes yes
I had everything with you and I lost it With you I
had everything and I lost it”
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“Lastima Que Seas Ajena”
“Lastima Que Seas Ajena,” is a song off of the 1989 album of the same name. It was nominated for a Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album Grammy (the same year that Selena won for Selena Live!). The song is about wanting to be with a woman who is already in a relationship, and Vicente telling her how he feels.
“I like you from head to toe, I have to confess it
just by greeting you, I feel the illness of love
My desires sprout, my whole body trembles
and what I am thinking it can’t be say
I like you for everything with all the excesses
I get goose bumps just imagining all that
so beautiful images are crossing my mind
but people around bother me, by God they really do.
Too bad that you are taken
and I can’t give you my best shot
Too bad that I arrived late to you…”
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“Que Sepan Todos”
Vicente Fernandez returns often to the theme of emotions experienced after a separation. In “Que Sepan Todos,” he lets the world know exactly how he feels now that he is no longer with his ex.
“Let everyone know that I am capable
of being a friend of the one who occupies my place
Because it is stronger than my pride, much more
Knowing that there is who loves you like me”
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“Hoy Platique con Mi Gallo”
This love song is a bit different from the other Vicente Fernandez’s love songs. In this, Chente sings to his rooster that he regrets getting to fight for money he owed. “Hoy Platique con Mi Gallo” was released in 1989.
“In less than three kicks I end up with his rival
But that rooster also made a mortal wound
And there I swore that a friend
should not be betrayed
I felt shame when I looked at it.
I was going to lose my friend for half a penny.
I was going to lose my friend for half a penny.
I return to my land”
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“Le Pese a Quien Le Pese”
The final Vicente Fernandez song that ranks among his greatest is “Le Pese a Quien Le Pese.” Sung in the 1974 film, El Hijo de Pueblo, it is a classic recording that talks about the fight to be with the one you love.
“I go away from here
I go with my soul in pieces
Neither you will forget me nor I will forget you I will
fight until I have you in my arms
I know that I will suffer maybe
I will die fighting for my people
But I ask God
to come back to see you again.”
