Original Songs
Castro has said that, "once a musician (you're) always a musician," and has therefore composed lyrics for several songs, like "Raíces" and "Jóvenes y Mayores". The bulk of his lyrical work was for other Puerto Rican comedians, particularly Luis Antonio Cosme. Cosme had a recurring character (named at times "El Choferito" and "El Cocinerito") at noon variety shows produced by Luis Vigoreaux and Paquito Cordero between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s. Cosme's character sang a daily news brief in these shows, no longer than five stanzas long, using humorous verses written by Castro.
Two of Castro's plenas are particularly better known. "Pa' los caborrojeños" is an ode to the people of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, written to coincide with his stints as a singer and percussionist in one of the town's local orchestras, that of Roberto Ortiz. On the other hand, the novelty song "Por dos pulgadas" ("Because of two inches") was a sleeper hit for fellow comedian Juan Manuel Lebrón during Puerto Rico's 1997 Christmas season which became a #1 hit on the Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay chart.
Read more about this topic: Shorty Castro
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