The song narrates the story of Simón, a trans woman who is rejected by her father for her identity and dies presumably of AIDS, alone in a hospital in New York.
The song was written in 1986[1] by the Panamanian composer Omar Alfanno[2][3] and was sung by Willie Colón[4][5][6][7] with his group Legal Alien.
[14] "El gran varón" peaked at number 13 on the Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States.
[19] Simón's father flatly rejects her while the chorus argues with itself - nature cannot be changed-- a Masculist sentiment held by Simon's dad, Andrés.
[30] Simón, el gran varón is also the name of a Mexican movie filmed in 2002 and inspired by the topic of the song.
It was directed by Miguel Barreda Delgado and features artists Alberto Estrella, Victor Carpinteiro, and Alicia Encinas.