‘Yolanda’ is, surely, the most unforgettable love song by the late Cuban troubadour, composer and singer Pablo Milanés, along with ‘Ámame como soy’ and ‘El breve espacio en que no está’. The song, first published on his 1982 album ‘Yo me quedo’, was dedicated to the figure of his great love, Yolanda Benet, with whom he was married for six years, between 1969 and 1973, and with whom he had three daughters, Lynn, Liam and Suylén (died this February). It was precisely after Lynn’s birth, just when the girl was 10 days old, that Milanés composed his touching hymn to lovewhose letter reads:
“This can’t be no more than a song
I would like it to be a declaration of love
Romantic without repair in such ways
Put a stop to what I feel now in abundance
Love you
Love you
(I love you forever)
If you miss me I will not die
If I have to die I want it to be with you
My loneliness feels accompanied
That’s why sometimes I know that I need
Your hand
Your hand
(Eternally your hand)
When I saw you I knew it was true
This fear of being found out
You undress me with seven reasons
You open my chest whenever you fill me up
Of loves
Of loves
eternally of loves
If I ever feel defeated
I give up seeing the sun every morning
Praying the creed that you have taught me
I look at your face and say at the window
Yolanda
Yolanda
Eternally Yolanda
Yolanda
Eternally Yolanda
Eternally, Yolanda”
Yolanda Benet He was born in the city of Cienfuegos, but in his adolescence he moved to live in Havana with his family. In 1962 he began working at the renowned Cuban Institute of Art and Television (ICAIC)where she would work for 25 years as a producer and assistant director, both in film and television programs.
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During his time at the ICAIC, Benet worked on some of the most recognized films of Cuban cinema such as ‘Manuela’ (1966) by Humberto Solás, ‘I am Cuba’ (1964), by the Soviet Mijaíl Kalatózov, ‘La primera carga al machete’ (1969) by Manuel Octavio Gómez, or ‘The strange case of Rachel K’ (1973) by Oscar Valdés.
He met Milanés in 1968thanks to a mutual friend, while she was working on the production of, precisely, ‘La primera carga al machete’, a film for which the musician composed some of his songs. The couple would end up getting married in Havana in 1969, giving rise to a close sentimental relationship that remained alive despite their divorce. “I was that girl he fell in love with and it could have been another, I don’t think she has any personal merit, the talent, of course, belongs to him,” Benet said when talking about her song and her close relationship with Milanés in an interview with writer Wendy Guerra.