WHAT IS IT THEY'RE SINGING - ONE SQUASHED TOMATO?

Cuban poet Jose Marti wrote a poem called Simple Verses which was used as the basis for a song called La Guantanamera. It was written by Julian Orbon and brought together music written by Joseito Fernandez Diaz with Marti's lyrics.

The version that mde the British charts in November 1966 was adapted by the greal folk singer Pete Seeger.

It was the Sandpipers who had the hit with the song. They were a trio well known for their light harmonies and string arrangements. Sometimes they had a female backing singer.

They were originally known as The Four Seasons, even though they were three - Jim Brady, Mike Piano and Richard Shoff. They'd all been members of the Californian Mitchell Boys Choir. When they realsed there was a New York group called The Four Seasons, they changed their name to The Grads, and managed to get regular work at the Lake Tahoe nightclub.

It was from there that they were introduced to musician and record label owner Herb Alpert of A& M records. He liked them and signed them. They recorded a number of singles as The Grads, then changed their name to The Sandpipers. They failed to have any chart success with their singles until their producer Tommy LiPuma persuaded them to record La Guantanamera. It was a Top 10 hit in the US and in the UK.

They recorded similar songs like Kumbaya and Louie Louie and enjoyed some minor success. In the background of the group was a female vocalist who added harmonies. Her name was Pamela Ramcier. On tours, she would draw attention away from the Sandpipers with her mini skirts and boots. She was never credited on their albums, but her haunting backing vocals became a major sound of The Sandpipers.

The group contributed songs to the film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, made by porn movie director Russ Meyer. The Sandpipers disbanded in the mid seventies. Their greatest hit is a song which many people have misheard as meaning something else. It's probably the result of English speaking pop music listeners unable to understand Spanish. Some of the most common misheard translations of the title of the song include "One Sunday Mirror," "He don't want that tomato," "Once in a meadow," and "One squashed tomato"

For our Spanish speaking BBC Essex surfers, here are the lyrics in that language

Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crecen las palmas
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crecen las palmas
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma

Chorus:

Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera
Guajira Guantanamera

Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmin encendido
Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmin encendido
Mi verso es un ciervo herido
Que busca en el monte amparo

Chorus

I am a truthful man from this land of palm trees
Before dying I want to share these poems of my soul
My verses are light green
But they are also flaming red

(the next verse says,)
I cultivate a rose in June and in January
For the sincere friend who gives me his hand
And for the cruel one who would tear out this
heart with which I live
I do not cultivate thistles nor nettles
I cultivate a white rose

Cultivo la rosa blanca
En junio como en enero
Qultivo la rosa blanca
En junio como en enero
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca

Chorus

Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo
Cultivo la rosa blanca

Chorus

Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace mas que el mar