El Ultimo Beso Lyrics in English by Alci Acosta

"El Último Beso" is the Spanish-language take on the 1960s teen tragedy song "Last Kiss", and Alci Acosta sings it as a slow, heartbroken bolero. It opens with the question that keeps coming back: "Por qué se fue y por qué murió" (Why did she leave, and why did she die). The answer he gives himself is a promise: "para poder ir yo, debo también ser bueno" (for me to be able to go too, I must also be good), so he can join her in heaven.

Then the story rewinds. Two of them are driving at nightfall, he is going "más de cien" (over a hundred), they miss "un letrero de desviación" (a detour sign), and "el carro volcó" (the car rolled over). He wakes, runs back and finds her still alive. Her last words are tender rather than bitter: "abrázame fuerte porque me voy" (hold me tight because I'm leaving). He kisses her, she smiles, and with one sigh she is gone in his arms. It is melodramatic in the best old-fashioned way, and the imperfect tense (íbamos, oscurecía, manejaba) is a great model for telling a story in Spanish.