Eternidad means “eternity,” referring to endless time or something that never ends. In the song, the singer wonders whether love can last forever, contrasting the vastness of eternity with the lasting “sabor” (taste or essence) that remains between the two lovers.
“Sabor a mí” means “a taste of me,” and that is the song’s lovely central image. The singer says the couple have shared love for so long that their souls came very close: “Que yo guardo tu sabor” [I keep your taste], while the other person carries his too. Here, sabor is not about food. It means the lasting mark of a person’s presence, as if love leaves a flavor behind. He even says that if the other person denied his place in their life, a hug and a conversation would be enough to bring that memory back.
The singer is affectionate, but he does not claim ownership. “No pretendo ser tu dueño” [I do not intend to be your owner] is a humble, direct line, followed by “De mi vida doy lo bueno” [I give the good part of my life]. He calls himself poor, yet the only gift he can offer is what is good in him. Then the song makes a wonderfully bold promise: even after a thousand years, the other person will still carry “sabor a mí” [a taste of me] on their lips. It is romantic, humble, and a little cheeky in its confidence that love leaves a flavor no one can quite wash away.
Los Lobos formed in East Los Angeles in 1973, when guitarist David Hidalgo and drummer Louie Pérez, both students at Garfield High School, started playing together. They brought in Cesar Rosas and Conrado Lozano and spent years working weddings and quinceañeras around East LA before saxophonist Steve Berlin joined the lineup, rounding out the band that still tours today.
Their sound mixes rock and roll with cumbia, norteño, and traditional Mexican son, and it earned them a Grammy for the EP …And a Time to Dance. Their cover of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" went to number one worldwide in 1987, and the following year they won a second Grammy for La Pistola y El Corazón, a record built entirely around mariachi and Tejano instrumentation. By 1992 they released Kiko, the album critics still point to as their high-water mark.