This song is dedicated to my wife, who is currently learning Spanish. Happy Birthday, Yoong.

It is probably the best known song from Cuba and means "the girl from Guantánamo".

The song is usually credited to José Fernández Diaz (known as Joseíto Fernández), who claimed to have written it in about 1929. Some American researchers claim it was at least partly written by Herminio "El Diablo" García Wilson, whose heirs took the matter to court decades later but lost the case.

It was supposedly written in response to a woman who rejected his advances, but Diaz himself changed his story a number of times. He also changed the words of the song at different times. In fact he used it on his radio show to comment on daily events by adapting them to fit the song. Others took his lead and the song became a popular vehicle for romantic, patriotic, humorous, or social commentary lyrics, in Cuba and other Spanish-speaking countries.

The best known version of the song uses a poem by Cuban nationalist poet and independence hero, José Martí, adapted by Julián Orbón. Because of Martí's hero status this raised the song to the level of an unofficial anthem.

You can see a playlist of my European and South American songs here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA7AAFFAA9C4D61BD

For lyrics and chords of all my songs, please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com