So, we come back to these posts with one of my favourite songs of all time (it is indeed my favourite song in Spanish at the moment). I wanted to introduce you to La Oreja de Van Gogh from a while now, because it’s one of the most iconic, influential and just plain good Spanish groups there are, and it had to be with this song. It’s not their most famous, and I’ll be talking about them in following posts, but you needed to listen to this song, also one of the most heartbreaking songs ever.
So, first of all, to understand this song I have to first talk about its context. This song is about the terrorist attacks of 11-M, our 9 / 11. I already made a post about the attacks and the song a while ago, when I had a mini-meltdown and just started crying thinking about them, but here is like a mini-recap of what happened.
At about 7:30 a.m., March 11th 2004, four bombs previously hidden in four trains of Madrid, around the station of Atocha, one of the most important stations of the city, exploded.
At first, the authorities thought the attack was perpetrated by the former terrorist group ETA, based in the Basque Country, but later that day a tape was found inside a bin with a video of ISIS claiming the attack.
There were a total of 193 deaths, making it the second most deadly terrorist attack in Europe ever.
The last three deaths were of a policeman who tried defusing a bomb in the base of the terrorists in the city of Leganés, south of Madrid, a baby born of a woman who survived the attack but somehow damaged the fetus (he only lived 48 h), and a woman who spent 10 years on a coma, and died in 2014.
The melt-down started when I dug up some more precise information of the attacks, and discovered that 2 trains were heading towards my University. They were exactly the same trains I get in everyday. And virtually everybody in my class passes through Atocha everyday on their way to University. So probably there were students, maybe even of my same faculty building, amongst the victims. Also, Leganés is where one of my best friends from University lives, and lived during the attacks. Who knows what could had happen to her? I guess it was just the implications that someone I knew could’ve have died there, even myself if I had been born before, that really fucked me up. Here are some photos of the accident (the trains are still the same I take everyday)
And here some photos of the monument that was built in Atocha station after the attack:
If you want more info, here is the English Wikipedia page (if you understand Spanish I advise you read it in that language better)
And here is a list of all the victims.
Before the cut, just wanna say that in the Music Video for this song all the people that appear are either survivors or family of the victims.
So, La Oreja de Van Gogh ( “Van Gogh’s Ear”) is probably the most iconic Spanish group from the ‘00s and beyond, they are really a cultural phenomena, and I wish they were known all over the world, because they deserve it. They are a basque group, and, as you can see here, they have had two singers (when the first one quitted and the second one started Spain was divided, it was a whole cultural crisis, we were lost tbh, it was crazy). The other members, that have always been there, are Pablo Benegas, Xabier San Martín, Haritz Garde, and Álvaro Fuentes. The singers were Amaia Montero (left) and Leire Martínez (right). Amaia was on the band since the start in 1996 til 2008, and Leire since then until now, they’re still active. Every Spanish is either Team Amaia or Team Leire, is a really personal question so I would like not to get into it, but just so you understand both sides, most of their greatest hits were with Amaia (Rosas, París, La Playa, Cuídate, Muñeca de Trapo…), but Leire is less problematic and also has had some amazing songs (Jueves, El Último Vals, Cometas Por El Cielo, La Niña Que Llora En Tus Fiestas…)
Let’s talk about “Jueves” (”Thursday”), it was the first song in the Leire Era, as it was released in 2008. It was released as a fundraiser to an association of the victims of the 11-M, but became a really big hit. The story it tells is based on the diary of one of the victims, that was writing in it just as the attack happened, found in one of the bombed trains. So yeah, when I say it is one of the heart wrenching songs ever, I mean it. Let’s go through the lyrics, keeping in mind all I’ve told you:
Si fuera más guapa y un poco más lista
If I was prettier and a bit smarter
Si fuera especial, si fuera de revista
If I was special, if I was a magazine model
Tendría el valor de cruzar el vagón
I would have the bravery to cross the carriage
Y preguntarte quién eres.
And to ask you who you are.
Te sientas en frente y ni te imaginas
You sit in front of me and you don’t even imagine
Que llevo por ti mi falta más bonita.
That for you I have my prettiest skirt on.
Y al verte lanzar un bostezo al cristal
And when I see you yawning at the glass
Se inundan mis pupilas.
My pupils become watery.
De pronto me miras, te miro y suspiras
Suddenly you look at me, I look at you and you sigh.
Yo cierro los ojos, tú apartas la vista
I close my eyes, you look away.
Apenas respiro me hago pequeñita
I am barely breathing, I become small
Y me pongo a temblar
And I start shaking.
Y así pasan los días, de lunes a viernes
And the days keep coming, from monday to friday
Como las golondrinas del poema de Bécquer
Like the swallows from Bécquer’s poem (1)
De estación a estación enfrente tú y yo
From station to station, in front of each other you and me
Va y viene el silencio.
Silence comes and goes.
De pronto me miras, te miro y suspiras
Suddenly you look at me, I look at you and you sigh.
Yo cierro los ojos, tú apartas la vista
I close my eyes, you look away
Apenas respiro, me hago pequeñita
I am barely breathing, I become small
Y me pongo a temblar.
And I start shaking
Y entonces ocurre, despiertan mis labios
And then, it happens, my lips wake up
Pronuncian tu nombre tartamudeando.
Stuttering, they say your name.
Supongo que piensas que chica más tonta
I suppose you’re thinking what a stupid girl
Y me quiero morir.
And I want to die.
Pero el tiempo se para y te acercas diciendo
But time stops and you get closer saying
Yo no te conozco y ya te echaba de menos.
”I don’t know you and I was already missing you.
Cada mañana rechazo el directo
Every morning I don’t take the direct (train)
Y elijo este tren.
And I choose this train.
Y ya estamos llegando, mi vida ha cambiado
And we are getting there, my life has changed
Un día especial este once de marzo.
A special day this March eleventh.
Me tomas la mano, llegamos a un túnel
You take my hand, we enter a tunnel.
Que apaga la luz.
That shuts off the light.
Te encuentro la cara, gracias a mis manos.
I find your face, thanks to mi hands.
Me vuelvo valiente y te beso en los labios.
I become brave and I kiss you in the lips.
Dices que me quieres y yo te regalo
You say you love me and I gift you
El último soplo de mi corazón.
The last breathe of my heart.
1. Bécquer is one of the most important Spanish poets, he was part of the Romanticism movement, and his most famous verses are:
“Volverán las oscuras golondrinas
En tu balcón los nidos a colgar”
Which translates to:
“The dark swallows will come back
To hang in your balcony their nests”
It means that the time will pass, and it is specifically a Spring reference.
Holy shit I have a heart ache now. That was painful god. Fun fact, I used to love this song when I was a kid, I just thought it was a sweet love song, and I didn’t understood the last verse, I assumed it was like a poetic figure or some shit like that, and a couple of years ago I found out the true meaning of it and now I love it even better.
