Lean On Me

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From the MUSIC section: Lean On Me

By Drew Crosby

Lean On Me (Apóyate en mi) was written and produced by Bill Withers and went to Number 1 on the U.S. pop charts back in July 1972.

Bill Withers was a late bloomer (persona que madura tarde): he didn’t even start singing until he was 32 years old.


Bill Withers

Lean On Me is all about simplicity.

- It’s simple because it’s easy to play on the piano:

Just put your fingers in one position and go up and down the keyboard; you don’t have to change fingers.

- It’s simple because it’s easy to understand:

Sometime in our lives we all pain
We all have sorrow (pena)
But if we’re wise we know that there’s always tomorrow

Lean on me when you’re not strong
I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on (continuar)
For it won’t be long till I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on

- It’s simple because the message is universal:

Bill wanted to express the importance of helping other people. He knows from experience, because he’s had to lean on others too.

While driving in Alabama in the late 1950s his tire blew out (reventó). As an African-American who found himself stranded in the southern United States, Bill didn’t feel very comfortable when he saw a white farmer approach him. “I see you had a blowout (reventón),” he said to Bill.

The man gave Bill a spare tire (rueda de repuesto) and helped Bill put it on his car.

Years later, Bill Withers reflected: “Even in the rural South, there were people who would help you out even across racial lines.”

Blood, brains and beer

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From the BUSINESS section: Blood, brains and beer

By Drew Crosby

Most people would agree that success in the business world results from shedding (derramar) a little blood, sweat and tears.

In the case of David Ogilvy, known as the Father of Advertising (publicidad), it was more like blood, brains and beer.

David Ogilvy was born in West Horsely, England in 1911. Ogilvy’s father, in an attempt to strengthen his brain power, ordered his son “to drink a glass of raw blood every day, eat calves’ brains three times a week and wash it all down with a bottle of beer.”


David Ogilvy

Ogilvy’s forte (punto fuerte) was advertising, but he also offered advice on:

Market research: Ogilvy understood the importance of knowing a client’s product inside out (al dedillo). If you can’t afford expensive market research surveys, go talk to a group of housewives and conduct them yourself.

Hiring: Ogilvy sent newly appointed (nombrado) managers at Ogilvy & Mather offices a hand written note tucked into Russian dolls that had smaller and smaller dolls inside.

The message said:

If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarves (enanos). But if each of us hires people bigger than we are, Ogilvy & Mather will become a company of giants.

New business development: Ogilvy’s philosophy for attracting new clients was very simple: do good work for current ones. He relied a lot on word-of-mouth (el boca a boca), and it worked.

Sales: Before founding Ogilvy & Mather, as a salesman for Aga Cookers, David Ogilvy wrote a sales guide that Fortune magazine called the best sales manual ever written.

Creativity: Without discipline, creativity doesn’t exist. While designing a campaign for Rolls Royce, Ogilvy wrote one of his best ads (anuncios) after spending three weeks reading about the car. The famous title: “At 60 miles per hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock.”

So as you can see, all that Blood, Brains and Beer was worth it, becoming the title of David Ogilvy’s autobiography.

World Class Goal!

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From the ON THIS DAY section: World class goal!

By Drew Crosby

Yesterday marked 23 years to the day that I was lucky enough to witness (presenciar) one of the best goals ever scored in the history of the World Cup.


My ticket (and souvenir) from the XIII World Cup.

What: Quarterfinals (cuartos de final). XIII World Cup Championship.
When: June 22, 1986. 12:00.
Where: Azteca Stadium, Mexico City.
Who: Maradona, whose two goals took Argentina past England into the semifinals.

The entire scene was awesome (impresionante).

Azteca Stadium is breathtaking (imponente). It’s the fifth largest stadium in the world. There were 105,000 fans there that day.

The Falklands War (la Guerra de las Malvinas) between Argentina and England had only ended four years earlier, and for security reasons the Mexican army deployed (desplegó) several hundred soldiers around the entire stadium.

And of course the goals.

Maradona first scored the famous “mano de Dios” goal. Then, five minutes later, he dribbled down practically the entire field, outmaneuvering (superando tácticamente) five English defenders before scoring his second.

Azteca stadium went crazy.

I’ll never forget this day for as long as I live (mientras yo viva).

Objects in mirror...

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From the TELL US MORE section: Objects in mirror…

By Drew Crosby

While I was getting out of the car the other day, I found my neighbor looking into his car’s rear-view mirror (espejo retrovisor) reciting something in English.

“Objects in mirror…” he started to say.

Despite his strong accent, I immediately knew what he was reading and before he could finish the sentence, I added “are closer than they appear.”

No, this wasn’t some narcissist English language pronunciation exercise, although practicing your pronunciation in front of a mirror can help. (It worked for me when learning Spanish!) My neighbor, let’s call him Juan, was reading something stamped on all rear-view mirrors produced for U.S. vehicles: “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”

And Juan drives a Chevrolet.

The phrase is burned into my memory. In fact, it would have been impossible NOT to have learned the phrase by heart (de memoria). I started driving when I was 16, so you can imagine how many times I’ve read that sentence.

When changing lanes, I checked the rear-view mirror: Objects may be closer than they appear.

When backing out (salía marcha atrás), I checked the rear-view mirror: Objects may be closer than they appear.

When hoping not to see a police car signaling me to pull over (parar), I checked the rear-view mirror: Objects may be closer than they appear.

You get the idea.

We can thank racecar driver Ray Harroun for “inventing” the rear-view mirror at the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

When it was time to begin the race and he couldn’t find his mechanic -mechanics used to sit in the back of racecars to monitor race traffic from behind- Harroun stuck a mirror onto his dashboard (salpicadero) and the idea immediately caught on (tuvo éxito).

Obviously, riding in the backseat of a racecar is risky business and mechanics themselves often became the “objects” which, when viewed from the cockpit (cabina del piloto) of an Indy racecar, were closer than they appeared.