Bésame Mucho Meaning: What the Song Title Means in English
Bésame mucho means “kiss me a lot” in Spanish — closer to how it lands in English, “kiss me, and keep on kissing me”.
Breaking down the title
Bésame is the command form of besar (to kiss) with me attached to the end: besa + me. The accent on the é appears only because the added syllable would otherwise move the stress. The same pattern gives abrázame (hug me), llámame (call me) and perdóname (forgive me).
Mucho means “a lot”. Here it describes how much to kiss, so it never changes form; in front of a noun it agrees, as in muchos besos (lots of kisses).
What the song is about
“Bésame Mucho” is a bolero by the Mexican composer and pianist Consuelo Velázquez, first recorded in 1940. It is an urgent plea for closeness from someone afraid of losing the person they love. Velázquez said she wrote it as a teenager, before she had ever been kissed.
It became one of the most recorded Spanish-language songs of all time, covered by artists from the Beatles to Andrea Bocelli.
Related Spanish phrases
| bésame | kiss me |
| un beso | a kiss |
| muchos besos | lots of kisses — a common way to sign off a message |
| te quiero | I love you (everyday, also to family and friends) |
| te amo | I love you (deep and romantic) |
| abrázame | hug me |
| no me dejes | don’t leave me |
Translate your own Spanish with the Spanish translator.