Ran Kan Kan Lyrics (Tito Puente)

Muja wrote:
it could be that the words on it are a pregon, the vocal improvisation very typical of Latin music. If this was the case, the lyrics would be different in every performance, especially from singer to singer.

Muja wrote:



Hi Louise

Have you solved this hot issue yet? I finally got to listen to Ran Kan Kan, from the Mambo King's soundtrack. My Spanish is almost non-existent, but it seems the background lyrics at the beginning is a sort of honomatopoeic chorus reproducing the sound of typical percussion and bass patterns in salsa music (arana balubitàl are the words I can make up..).
The leading vocal is, as I mentioned in my previous post, a pregon praising Tito (Puente? most likely) playing the timbales (the Cuban drums): Tito suena suena los timbales, los timbales para gozar, Tito Tito goza con los timbales and on and on on this line. So this part is going to be (at least slightly) different in every performance/recording.
HTH

PS There are no credits for the lyrics on the CD cover.

[Edited at 2004-04-12 11:22]

Armando Pattroni wrote:

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Pero suenan, suenan los timbales,

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Tito, Tito suename los timbales

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Goza, goza, goza con los timbales

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Pero suenan, suenan los timbales,

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Ah como, como suenan los timbales

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Tito ponme a gozar con los timbales

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Ay como suenan, suenan oye negrón los timbales

Ran kan kan kan, kan kan
Tito Puente ponme a gozar sabrosón con tus timbales

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sin embargo la primera parte (la del coro inicial) es harto complicada, dice algo así:
Rana, sagüero y rumba, araña pa' lubri....car.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y por supuesto, la palabra "Ran Kan Kan" es el sonido del timbalero haciendo un solo de timbales.

Valentina Pecchiar wrote:

Hi Louise

The Latin Real Book by Sher Music (sort of bible in the industry) gives no word for this tune and it's seems impossible to find the lyrics in the Internet.

Unfortunately I just can't find my CD with it and I don't remember the song (my Spanish is far from fluent) but it could be that the words on it are a pregon, the vocal improvisation very typical of Latin music. If this was the case, the lyrics would be different in every performance, especially from singer to singer.

Can anyone confirm?

Thewriter wrote:




Hello Louise, The first part of Ran Kan Kan is the chorus repeating words:

The words are misquoted as Rana, Saguer y Rumba, Arana pa lubri-car
It is indeed Rana, Saguer y Rumba, arana peludi-ta (or hairy spider, AKA Tarantula.)

In many songs which echo Afro Cuban influence, topics of Healing plants (yerbas) or of Afro-Cuban beliefs such as Mayombe and Yoruba, Certain words are used in songs.

In this case, The common mistranslation is due to near impossible vocals, which drown out the clear meaning of what is being said.

Yerbas, that is Plants are often quoted as is the Ozainista, a person who recognizes plants on sight and knows the healing or magical properties of each.

Tito Puente was an a believer in Yoruba and as such pepered his recordings with tributes to his faith. For further analisis and also to experience some great music, check out:
Mongo Santamaria, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon, Perez Prado and Bene More.

LandoDrum wrote:

I sang the lyrics to the intro and only one thing doesn't make sense. "saguer y rumba" sounds more like "saguer y rum-bLa", which still leaves me with this misunderstanding. I play percussion (mainly bongo, bell, and guiro) in my university Salsa Band, and I'd like to be able to sing with the timbalero and pianist.



Any further speculation or explanation of these lyrics would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks so much for anyone's help with this matter!