"Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" () is a song written and performed by Mexican singer-songwriter

Juan Gabriel Alberto Aguilera Valadez (; 7 January 1950 – 28 August 2016), known professionally as Juan Gabriel (), was a Mexican singer-songwriter and actor. Colloquially Honorific nicknames in popular music, nicknamed Juanga () and El Divo de Juárez, ...

for his fourth studio album, '' Juan Gabriel con el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán'' (1974). The song is a

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in the vast majority of regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional fo ...

number that tells of an awaited but impossible reunion as the singer forgets he is the only one who loved the woman. It was released as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from the album in 1975. The song has been listed as among Juan Gabriel's best songs according to

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s and was one of the best-performing singles of 1975 in Mexico. Gabriel has re-recorded the song twice, the first for his compilation album, '' Por Los Siglos'' (2001), and as a duet with fellow Mexican singer-songwriter

Marco Antonio Solís Marco Antonio Solís Sosa (born 29 December 1959) is a Mexican musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Ario de Rosales, Michoacán, Solís began his musical career at the age of six, performing with his cousin Joel ...

on his 28th studio album, '' Los Dúo'' (2015). In 1999, Mexican band

Maná Maná () is a Mexican pop rock band formed in 1981. Originally called Sombrero Verde, the current lineup of members is vocalist-guitarist Fher Olvera, drummer Alex González (musician), Alex González, guitarist Sergio Vallín and bassist Juan ...

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

"Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" on their second

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

-, ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

''. Mana's rendition is performed as a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

-tinged

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

song. Their version was also received positive reactions from music critics and won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. Commercially, Mana's cover peaked at numbers five and four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

and

Latin Pop Airplay Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of ...

charts in the United States, respectively.

Background and composition

Since his debut album '' El Alma Joven'' (1971), Juan Gabriel immediately established himself as a popular Mexican singer. Juan Gabriel followed up with two albums, '' El Alma Joven II'' (1972) and '' El Alma Joven III'' (1973). In 1974, the artist released his album of mariachi songs '' Juan Gabriel con el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán'', in a collaboration with Vargas de Tecalitlán. As with the previous albums, Juan Gabriel composed all the tracks on the record including "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez". A

song, it tells of a "jilted lover waits in sad futility 'in the same town and with the same people, so that when you come back you won't find anything out of place'. But reunion is impossible: 'I'd forgotten once again that it was only me who loved you.'"

Promotion and reception

"Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" was released as the album's

in 1975 by

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

. Juan Gabriel performed the song live at the

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...

in 1990 and the performance was included on his first

'' Juan Gabriel en el Palacio de Bellas Artes'' (1990). He re-recorded the track on his 2001

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

'' Por Los Siglos'' and again in 2015 with fellow Mexican singer-songwriter

on Juan Gabriel's vocal duet album '' Los Dúo''. According to the book ''Grandes Intérpretes del Bolero'' (2019) by Eladio Rodulfo Gonzalez, it has become one of the most-well known ranchera songs in the world.

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

listed the track as "one of the 13 songs you are obligated to hear". E! contributor Vanessa Odreman ranked "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" as Juan Gabriel's 10th best song. Antonieta Ramos of ''Heraldo USA'' cited the track as one of the 10 songs "for a heartbreak". The duet version was praised by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Thom Jurek as a "lovely ballad". Commercially, the track became one of the best-performing songs of 1975 in Mexico.

Formats and track listings

Mexican single A1 "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez"2:56 B1 "Ases Y Tercia De Reyes1:54

Maná version

In 1999, Mexican band

performed a rendition of "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" on their second live album ''

''. "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" is one of the three cover songs in the album along with " Te Solte La Rienda" by José Alfredo Jiménez and "Desapariciones" by Rubén Blades. The session was recorded at the Miami Broadcast Center in Florida on 24 March 1999. The record was produced by band members Fher Olvera and Alex González. Mana's cover of the song is performed as a "

-tinged"

track. "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" was released as the album's lead single by

WEA Latina Warner Music Latina Inc. (formerly WEA Latina) is a record label part of Warner Music Group that focuses on Latin music. The record label was established in 1987. List of artists currently on Warner Music Latina *Alaya * Alex Ubago * Andrés Ca ...

on 21 May 1999. Ricardo Camarena of ''La Opinión'' called the performance of the track "stupendous and rhythmic". The ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' critic Ramiro Burr remarked that the band makes "raucous takes" of both "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" and "Te Solté la Rienda". A writer for Radio Programas del Perú listed Maná's rendition as one of the "10 Juan Gabriel Songs That Are Hits by Other Artists". At the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez" won the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It was recognized as one of the best-performing songs of the year at the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Latin Awards under the pop/ballad category in 2000. Commercially, Mana's rendition peaked at numbers five and four on the ''

and

charts in the US, respectively.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Se me olvido otra vez 1970s ballads 1974 songs 1975 singles 1999 singles Juan Gabriel songs Maná songs Marco Antonio Solís songs Songs written by Juan Gabriel Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Album by a Duo or Group with Vocals Live singles Songs in Spanish RCA Records singles Warner Music Latina singles