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Month up, month down, Los Secretos have been closely attached to the hearts of their fans for 40 years , four decades in music composing songs that have gone down in Spanish pop history and that have caused tears, smiles, affection and memories indelible. However, this period of time, in addition to success, has been marked by misfortune and the survival drive, weakened by doubts and reinforced by the unstoppable desire to communicate feelings on the part of Álvaro Urquijo, the brother who now leads the reins - the eldest, Javier, has long since retired - of a unique family project.

In November 1999, when Enrique Urquijo died, the group's creative engine - found in a portal in Malasaña, on Calle del Espíritu Santo, after a heroin overdose - the group that had previously emerged from the Tos ashes, the Madrid formation that began its journey in 1978 and that soon had to also say goodbye when José Enrique Cano, Canito, who had been the driving force behind the group, died in a traffic accident .

In 1980 Tos gave way to Los Secretos - in circumstances similar to how Joy Division gave way to New Order in England just in those same weeks, although their styles and impacts were not comparable - and Enrique Urquijo took command of the inspiration. His two decades of songs paid off: On the street of oblivion , Goodbye sadness , On a wet glass , etc.; the list would go on for a couple more lines.

In 1995, however, Enrique Urquijo came across a special, unexpected classic like all the work of inspiration and pure emotion, and that song was Pero a tu lado , the first from the album Two Different Faces, which he dedicated to his daughter. He composed it at a time when his life was reeling: unable to detoxify and when he chained drug relapses with depression , feeling defeated and aware that people he loved depended on him, and that he was esteemed by thousands of fans and friends whom he felt he was disappointing, that song came out of his guts as a desperate gesture of love. The confession that, even if he left - because he feared it - he would always be there in spirit and in heart.

It is a song with images of death and resurrection, of dreams from the other side of the glass -as if he were watching others from heaven, happy for having saved problems but sad for not sharing joys that he already saw as impossible-, and his impact was immediate. Of all the repertoire of Los Secretos, it is surely the song that is still heard the most, the one that best represents the end of an era, and the one that augurs the end still far away, but ominous, of the band in 1999. But as the lyrics, "I have died and I have risen", and Álvaro Urquijo wanted to go ahead and recast Los Secretos under his command. Álvaro assures that singing But by your side in the early 2000s it was impossible for him -the emotions were too intense, and the song too personal, too close to his brother's voice-, although he ended up finally entering the repertoire of the concerts. The best news for the fans who followed them and went on tour.

Many celebrities join The Secrets to honor the sick with 'By your side'

The song has flown with its own direction and has become a timeless hymn, which goes beyond the post-Movida and generational affections. It was used in the movie Báilame el agua (2000) and has been played repeatedly on all possible channels. When Los Secretos decided to do something to raise funds to combat the coronavirus damage, they knew that But by your side it was the song that had to be re-versioned, because it is the one that best explains the feelings of sadness and overcoming difficult times . The benefits of the new version will be transferred to the Community of Madrid to help logistics supply. A song that came from the depths, which is where sincere and universal emotions are born.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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