Cada Vez Otra Vez Lyrics in English by Eddie Santiago
Puñado literally translates to "handful". It's a beautifully tangible word for something you can hold in your fist (puño).
In this classic salsa song, Eddie Santiago sings of his lover leaving him with "un puñado de tus besos" (a handful of your kisses). This striking metaphor paints a vivid picture of longing, suggesting that the kisses he's left with are precious, yet not nearly enough to keep.
Puerto Rican salsa star Eddie Santiago has got himself stuck in an emotional loop here, and he knows it. Right from the start, his body is covered in his lover's traces—"Mi cuerpo está repleto de tus huellas" [My body is filled with your tracks]—yet he already knows she is about to pack up and leave him holding just "un puñado de tus besos" [a handful of your kisses]. He walks over to "la ventana del recuerdo" [the window of memory] to stare out and mope. It sounds miserable, but the upbeat salsa groove tells a completely different story: he is utterly addicted to the drama.
Instead of cutting his losses, he doubles down on the cycle. He actually convinces himself that separation helps love grow, singing that "la distancia alguna vez hace bien" [distance sometimes does good]. When he hits the chorus, he proclaims with total confidence: "aunque te alejes tú tendrás que volver / Cada vez otra vez" [even if you walk away, you will have to return / each time, again and again]. The Spanish phrase "otra vez" literally means "another time," but repeating it as "cada vez otra vez" drives home that endless revolving-door relationship where two people split, miss each other, and inevitably come rushing right back.
