Carterón is the augmentative form of cartera (purse), meaning a large purse or handbag. It's a unique and visually descriptive word you won't hear in most songs.
In this classic salsa narrative, the main character, Simón, moves abroad and transforms his appearance, using "falda, lápiz labial, y un carterón" (a skirt, lipstick, and a large handbag). This specific word is a powerful symbol of his new identity, directly challenging the strict "gran varón" (great man) role his father forced upon him.
Willie Colón brings us one of the most famous story-songs in salsa, following the life of Simón from his birth in the summer of '56 to his lonely death thirty years later in 1986. Raised under his father Don Andrés's strict rules to be a manly "gran varón," Simón moves abroad and leaves that strict upbringing behind: "Cambió la forma de caminar / Usaba falda, lápiz labial, y un carterón" ("He changed the way he walked / He wore a skirt, lipstick, and a large purse"). When Andrés pays a surprise visit, he is shocked to find a woman greeting him with "No me conoces yo soy Simón" ("You don't know me, I am Simón"). Rather than accepting his child, Andrés abandons Simón completely due to neighborhood gossip and wounded pride.
The chorus drives the central theme home with the blunt proverb: "No se puede corregir a la naturaleza / Palo que nace doblado, jamás su tronco endereza" ("Nature cannot be corrected / A tree branch born bent never straightens its trunk"). While people use that saying to judge Simón, Colón flips the script on the father, warning him with "si del cielo te caen limones aprende a hacer limonada" ("if lemons fall on you from heaven, learn to make lemonade"). When Simón dies of a mysterious illness in hospital bed number ten with nobody there to cry for him, the song calls for true compassion, reminding self-righteous judges that anyone who refuses to forgive ends up trapped in their own bitter hell.
William Anthony Colón Román, known as Willie Colón, is a legendary salsa musician and social activist born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents in 1950. A pioneering trombonist and vocalist, he began his music career at just 15 and quickly rose to fame as a key figure in the New York salsa scene associated with Fania Records.
Willie Colón is celebrated for blending salsa with jazz, rock, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, creating timeless music that explores Puerto Rican identity and diaspora. Over five decades, he has collaborated with iconic artists like Héctor Lavoe, Celia Cruz, and Rubén Blades, contributing to some of the genre's best-selling albums. Beyond music, Colón has been deeply involved in political activism and community service, making him not only a cultural icon but also a committed advocate for social change.