You must know “Despacito“. The song has almost 4 billion views on youtube.

The other day one of Pádraig’s friends said: “Have you listened to the lyrics?”, with an undertone of incredulity that such an overt, well, sensual?, song made it to Number 1 around the world. It’s a great song, full of rhythm, and, because it’s in Spanish, hard to understand for most of us.  I looked it up on the web.

Despacito
Quiero desnudarte a besos despacito
Firmo en las paredes de tu laberinto
Y hacer de tu cuerpo todo un manuscrito (sube, sube, sube)
(Sube, sube)
Quiero ver bailar tu pelo
Quiero ser tu ritmo
Que le enseñes a mi boca
Tus lugares favoritos (favoritos, favoritos baby)

Déjame sobrepasar tus zonas de peligro
Hasta provocar tus gritos
Y que olvides tu apellido (Diridiri, dirididi Daddy)

(In case you missed your Spanish classes in school, you might want to consult google translate or search for the English version:).

It’s pretty clear what the song is all about, though I was surprised that someone would find it a little too explicit. Maybe I’m too old?

I remember what happened when, many years ago, I was driving through Spain in an old VW Beatle and proudly played a song that had been Number 1 in Germany for many months, to my Spanish and Irish friends. It was Bobby Brown by Frank Zappa. My Spanish friends loved the song, my Irish friends couldn’t stop giggling. Eventually, I decided to swap tapes. Now, to my excuse, these were times when PCs did not exist, neither did the internet or the web (to check the lyrics and get them translated:).

Stuff that sounds good, maybe great, or even absolutely amazing can turn out slightly different once you start understanding it, or – if you don’t understand it yourself – once you share it with people who do.