[00:00.62]Calor… calor… calor…
[00:07.63]Calor… calor… calor…
[00:17.50]Ay Mamá!
[00:19.73]The summer’s hottest day!
[00:23.27]Paciencia y fe! Paciencia y fe!
[00:28.15]Ay, carajo, it’s hot!
[00:31.16]But that’s okay!
[00:35.19]Mamá would say, "Paciencia y fe!"
[00:41.40]It was hotter at home in La Vibora
[00:43.43]The Washington Heights of Havana!
[00:46.57]A crowded city of faces the same as mine!
[00:52.71]Back as a child in La Vibora
[00:55.50]I chased the birds in the plaza
[00:58.76]Praying, Mamá, you would find work
[01:01.72]Combing the stars in the sky for some sort of sign!
[01:07.51]Ay, Mamá, so many stars in Cuba…
[01:13.79]En Nueva York we can’t see beyond our streetlights…
[01:19.51]To reach the roof you gotta bribe the supa...
[01:25.83]Ain’t no Cassiopeia in Washington Heights…
[01:30.15]But ain’t no food in La Vibora…
[01:33.77]I remember nights, anger in the streets, hunger at the windows
[01:39.79]Women folding clothes, playing with my friends in the summer rain…
[01:44.63]Mamá needs a job, Mamá says we’re poor, one day you say, "Vamos a Nueva York..."
[01:50.91]And Nueva York was far
[01:52.24]But Nueva York had work and so we came…
[01:57.31]And now, I’m wide awake
[01:59.94]A million years too late
[02:02.66]I talk to you, imagining what you’d do
[02:07.44]Remembering what we went through
[02:14.63]Nueva York! Ay Mamá!
[02:17.46]It wasn’t like today, you’d say
[02:20.17]"Paciencia y fe
[02:22.10]Paciencia y fe
[02:23.12]Paciencia y fe!"
[02:25.37]Paciencia y—
[02:26.40]Fresh off the boat in America
[02:28.55]Freezing in early December
[02:31.26]A crowded city in Nineteen Forty-Three!
[02:36.67]Learning the ropes in America
[02:39.70]In español, I remember
[02:42.63]Dancing with Mayor La Guardia
[02:45.27]All of society welcoming mami and me!
[02:50.40]Ha!
[02:51.76]You better clean this mess!
[02:53.11]Paciencia y fe…
[02:54.15]You better learn inglés!
[02:55.87]Paciencia y fe…
[02:56.85]You better not be late…
[02:59.76]You better pull your weight…
[03:02.57]Are you better off than you were with the birds of La Vibora?
[03:07.70]Sharing double beds, trying to catch a break, struggling with English
[03:13.49]Listening to friends, finally got a job working as a maid
[03:18.70]So we cleaned some homes, polishing with pride
[03:21.79]Scrubbing the whole of the Upper East Side
[03:24.72]The days into weeks, the weeks into years, and here I stayed
[03:30.92]Paciencia y fe…
[03:31.66]Paciencia y fe…
[03:32.76]Paciencia y fe…
[03:34.35]And as I feed these birds
[03:36.97]My hands begin to shake
[03:39.69]And as I say these words
[03:42.82]My heart’s about to break
[03:45.60]And ay Mamá
[03:47.60]What do you do when
[03:48.56]Your dreams come true?
[03:51.29]I’ve spent my life
[03:53.66]Inheriting dreams from you.
[03:57.80]What do I do with this winning ticket?
[04:03.31]What can I do but pray?
[04:10.86]I buy my loaf of bread
[04:14.27]Continue with my day
[04:16.83]And see you in my head
[04:19.91]Imagining what you’d say
[04:22.94]The birds, they fly away
[04:24.83]Do they fly to La Vibora?
[04:28.55]Alright, Mamá. Okay
[04:34.82]Paciencia y fe
[04:40.65]Calor, calor, calor!