A 1935 rumba song
Spanish lyric by Guy Wood
English lyric by Jack Bassett
music by Manning Sherwin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
I’m hearing a melody
It’s casting a spell o’er me once more
It wakens a memory
Of nights on the Caribbean shore
Gay caballeros smoking their cigarettes
One senorita there in the moonlight coquets
And pirouettes to castanets
Chorus
Midnight in Santiago
Moon of romance above
Faint guitars there
‘Neath the stars there
Playing a song of love
Midnight in Santiago
Shadows beneath the palms
Hearts were beating, lips were meeting
Heaven was in my arms
Rumba, every heartbeat a rumba
There was no thought of slumber
While that melody lingered on
Midnight in Santiago
Tropical rendezvous, Santiago, Santiago
Midnight means dreams of you
Spanish chorus:
Medianoche en Santiago
Arrullo tropical
Llora un bordon, y se hace oir
Una voz de cristal.
Medianoche en Santiago
No te puedo olvidar,
Mi corazon la te al oir suspiros del palmar
Rumba, calida danza sensual.
En cada nota tuya,
Vibra un pecado capital.
Medianoche en Santiago,
Nostalgia del palmar,
Mi Santiago, Mi Santiago,
No te podre olvidar
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: