Pedro Infante: Angelitos Negros

Pedro Infante sings Angelitos Negros, the heart-wrenching theme song from the 1948 film of the same name.

Watching this film, I was reminded of the American melodrama Imitation of Life, and it was interesting to discover that Juanita Moore, who played Annie, the long-suffering mother in that 1959 film, also played the long-suffering Mercé in the 1970 remake of Angelitos Negros.

The words to the song are from a poem by Andres Eloy Blanco

Here is the lyric, and a rough translation:

Angelitos negros

Pintor nacido en mi tierra,
con el pincel extranjero,
pintor que sigues el rumbo,
de tantos pintores viejos.

Aunque la virgen sea blanca,
píntale angelitos negros,
que también se van al cielo,
todos los negritos buenos.

Pintor si pintas con amor,
¿por qué desprecias su color?
si sabes que en el cielo,
también los quiere Dios.

Pintor de santos alcoba,
si tienes alma en el cuerpo,
por qué al pintar en tus cuadros,
te olvidaste de los negros.

Siempre que pintas iglesias,
pintas angelitos bellos,
pero nunca te acordaste,
de pintar un ángel negro

Little Black Angels

Painter, born in my land
with a foreign brush in your hand,
Following in the glory,
of artists who came before you.

Though the Virgin may be white,
paint me some little black angels,
for they go to heaven, too,
as all good black people do.

Painter of art, if you paint with any heart,
Why do you despise this color?
Knowing well that God in heaven,
Loves black people, too.

Painter of alcoves of saints,
if you have a soul within you,
why is it when you paint,
you forget to paint the black ones?

You paint all our churches,
and fill them with beautiful angels,
but you never do remember,
to paint us a black angel.

~ by lolarusa on June 4, 2010.