Rick Bonner - 'Begin the Beguine' [Volver a Empezar]

"Begin the Beguine" is a popular song written by Cole Porter. Porter composed the song during a 1935 Pacific cruise aboard the Cunard ocean liner Franconia from Kalabahi, Indonesia, to Fiji. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee, produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City.

The Beguine is a dance and music form, similar to a slow rhumba. In his book American Popular Song: The Great Innovators 1900–1950, musicologist and composer Alec Wilder, described "Begin the Beguine" as "a maverick, it is an unprecedented experiment and one which, to this day, after hearing it hundreds of times, I cannot sing or whistle or play from start to finish without the printed music ... about the sixtieth measure I find myself muttering another title, 'End the Beguine' "

Julio Iglesias recorded a Spanish version of "Begin the Beguine", titled "Volver a Empezar" in Spanish. Iglesias wrote new Spanish lyrics for this song, which is about lost love rather the dance. Apart from the opening lines, the full song is in Spanish. The song was produced in Madrid with an arrangement by producer Ramón Arcusa, using the rhythm from Johnny Mathis' disco version of the song. The song reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1981. It is the first fully Spanish language song to have reached No. 1 on the British chart, although Iglesias is the second Spanish act to top the chart (after Baccara who topped the chart with an English language song). The song was certified Gold by the BPI in the UK. The song also spent three weeks at No. 1 in the Irish Singles Chart. In Japan, it sold 96,170 units. He also recorded versions of this song in Italian "Venezia a Settembre", French "Une chanson qui revient", and German "aber der Traum war sehr schön".