Osito De Felpa Maria de Jesus Valdez

Osito De Felpa is a Bolero-style song by Maria De Jesus Valdez that was released in 1974. Its age and release outside the U.S. have made it difficult to find information about it online. I will mainly look into the movement of the chords as well as the lyrics and how they are expressed by the music. 

Chord Progressions

The song is in the key of A, starting with an initial chord of D (IV), moving to a G (bVII), A (I), F# (III or a V7/ii that I may not have caught correctly), Bm (ii), E (V), and back to A (I). This chord progression can be taken as two similar progressions tied by the F#, then resolve to I. 
There’s a quick chord progression starting at a C#m (or iii) that moves chromatically down to Bm (ii). The harmonic rhythm moves fast, but just for a short while. The result of the moving progression leads back to the tonic (A), which is directional and somewhat unstable. It’s also interesting to see a major seven (the G#), even though that could just be my own error. I believe these interesting chords add a push and pull to the music that ties well to the melody. 

The chorus section (as labeled in the leadsheet above) features borrowed chords along with D (IV), such as Dm (iv) and even G (bVII), which would be “Te”. I could see the song entering mixolydian for a split second with the bVII in this chorus section. This is different than in the verses, which mainly stay in key besides a few outliers. 

The phrases end in authentic cadences with E (V) and A (I) throughout the entire song, providing clear ends and starts of the different phrases. Besides that, there is another progression that moves from G to F# to Bm. The G (bVII) to F# (V7/ii) is another chromatic progression, but is also another example of the tonicization Bm (ii) with the secondary dominant resolution of F# to Bm (V7/ii), though the lead sheet would need to be updated again to match this. It could also be argued that the roman numeral of G (bVII) could also be found in the key of Bm as a VI, which would mean that in this section the song deviates from the home key of A major to a tonicized B minor. 

Overall, the song repeats the same chord progressions though it is always moving toward somewhere. Quite often, the song uses 7ths such as F# to Bm (V7/ii) and E7 to A (V7 and I), which causes a lot of ebb and flow to the structure of the piece. These 7th also allow for clear changes in phrase and endings that resolve nicely. 

Lyrics/Expression

I believe the lyrics are very important in bolero, not just this specific song. The whole story can be told in the perspective of parents whose son passed away overnight, and while they grieve, they have his teddy bear to be their friend to remember him by. When entering the main theme (labeled as C in the diagram above), the lyrics are more or less in an accepting phase of grief, more reminiscent, and at the same time, the chords are more relaxed and stable. Stable in the sense that the chords are not pushing or pulling anywhere in a strong way. The section is mellowed out now after the intense outpouring of emotions in the pre-chorus (A').

The timbre sees a change when the melody gets taken over by the male voices saying "dame tu manito, yo que fue su padre" then "tu amigo sere" by both. The translation here is "give me your hand, I who was his dad, your friend I will be." These lyrics match well with the perfect authentic cadence found in these two lines that end in "padre" and "sere." The timbre here is different than the other parts of the song, with the "father" voice now comforting the bear in an accepting tone. 

Immediately before this, the mother's lyrics reflect onto the bear that its glass eyes can't produce the same tears as hers. The lyrics and melody increase in volume and intensity as the song reaches a climax in emotion, showing the painful aspect of grief that was not as obvious beforehand.