What is Lágrima

Lágrima by Francisco Tárrega is the song that Frankie hears when he comes into the world and when he leaves it, symbolizing how art comes from pain. The song literally means “teardrop.” Frankie's mother hums it to him before she dies and it saves his life. Francisco Tárrega also wrote the song to express his pain at leaving Spain. El Maestro tells Frankie, “Music is pain” (66). Frankie's greatest compositions all come from terrible pain in the novel, from the Woodstock performance to his last performance.