Why does José Alfredo Jiménez use the word "que" so much?
¡Hola! One way I'm learning Spanish is by memorizing the letra to los canciónes de José Alfredo Jimenéz.
I've noticed he uses the word "que" a lot more than I usually see. Is this a poetic device? Common in song lyrics but not regular writing?
For example, in the song "Que se me acabe la vida", just about every line starts with "que":
Que se me cierren los ojos
que fueron tu gran cario
y que se sienta en tu peho
de vers que ya me fui
Another example I've wondered about is from Guitarras de Media Noche:
Guitarras, de media noche,
que siempre que me acompañan
Is that normal to say "que" twice there? What does the second "que" mean? I can guess that "Guitarras siempre me acompañan" would mean "Guitars always accompany me." and then "Guitarras que siempre me acompañan" would mean "Guitars that always accompany me". But what about "Guitarras que siempre que me acompañan."?
Maybe song lyrics aren't the best way to learn grammar 
5 Answers
Que in Spanish can be used as an exhortation or in indirect commands. It is often translated using "may" in English. It can also be viewed as a shorting of the sentence employing a verb of desire.
[Espero] Que se me acaba la vida
May my life end
May my eyes be closed
The second usage that you mention is que being used as a relative pronoun and perhaps, the 2nd one is a "may" ........ guitars... that always may they accompany me.
And, then, let's not forget poetic license where you can write just about anything to create the rhythym or structure that you need.
Why does José Alfredo Jiménez use the word "que" so much?
It could just be because he is Spanish. Qué ? 
Thanks for the great explanations, qfreed. And thanks for the encouragement, beatrice-cod 
xtiagox: That's a good point... I knew that about José Alfredo, and I have wondered how his language sounds to native hispanohablantes. I wonder if I will someday sound like un pobre from Dolores Hidalgo, since I'm learning so much Spanish from his songs.
Qfreed excellent explanation.
Other thing we must to know about José Alfredo Jiménez is that he didn't complete his basic education. Indeed he didn't have a formal musical education.
When he wrote his first song, he couldn't read a partiture.
He had to play with his guitar in front of a formal musician and that musician had to write his first songs in a partiture.
For that reason I think He had a poor literary skills and literacy too. However he wrote a lot of clasic songs from the spanish speaking world.
This was one of the hardest things for me to grasp when I started learning; I feel your pain. When the letters Q, U, and E are put together, there are some many different contexts in which they can be used. The easiest way for me was to stop over-thinking the use of "que", and just put it wherever I thought it should go based on what I heard natives saying.
