Besame Mucho

"Besame Mucho" is a Mexican song written in 1940 by Consuelo Velázquez before her sixteenth birthday. The phrase "besame mucho" can be translated into English as "kiss me a lot". According to Velázquez, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time. She was inspired by the aria "Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruisenor" from the Spanish 1916 opera Goyescas by Enrique Granados.

Emilio Tuero was the first to record the song. It has since been performed by many artists including, notably The Beatles, who often played it during live performances throughout 1962 (though they never released a studio recording of the song.)

The composition has been used on the soundtrack of numerous films including Great Expectations, A toda máquina, Moon Over Parador, Arizona Dream, Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, In Good Company, Paid, Juno, and Mona Lisa Smile.

American Jazz musician, Art Pepper, had a big hit with the song in 1956.

In 2007, Composer/Arranger and Jazz Trombonist Steve Wiest was nominated for a Grammyfor Best Instrumental Arrangement for his version of Besame Mucho that was recorded by Maynard Ferguson on The One and Only Maynard Ferguson.