Monday, May 12, 2008

Me Gustas Tu :: Manu Chao

I first heard this song seven years ago, when I was studying in Mexico. Manu Chao is this amazing musician of the "world music" variety, which I'm coming to believe means that he's hugely popular everywhere EXCEPT the United States. Anyway, Manu Chao is a Spanish-French musician who is highly influenced by indigenous music from Latin America. His songs are mainly in Spanish, and in general focus on the stories of people marginalized by capitalism and imperialism.

"Me Gustas Tu" roughly translates to "I Like You" in English (but it's more like "You make me happy" or "You are pleasing to me"). He lists off all these random things he likes (planes, wind, marijuana....) and always concludes "I like you." The chorus is Spanish and French: What am I gonna do? I don't know. I still don't know. I'm lost...

The loneliness of this song is what gets me. I remember those days of being a stranger in a strange land, when planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center, when all travel was grounded, when the war started with Afghanistan... and I came back to a different home. The old stuff was never coming back.



Que hora son mi corazon
Te lo dije bien clarito
Permanece a la escucha

Permanece a la escucha
12 de la noche en La Habana, Cuba
11 de la noche en San Salvador, El Salvador
11 de la noche en Maragua, Nicaragua
Me gustan los aviones, me gustas tu.
Me gusta viajar, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la maana, me gustas tu.
Me gusta el viento, me gustas tu.
Me gusta soar, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la mar, me gustas tu.
Que voy a hacer,
je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer
Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer
Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazn
Me gusta la moto, me gustas tu.
Me gusta correr, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la lluvia, me gustas tu.
Me gusta volver, me gustas tu.
Me gusta marihuana, me gustas tu.
Me gusta colombiana, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la montaa, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la noche, me gustas tu.
Que voy a hacer,
je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer
Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer
Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazn

Me gusta la cena, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la vecina, me gustas tu.
Me gusta su cocina, me gustas tu.
Me gusta camelar, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la guitarra, me gustas tu.
Me gusta el regaee, me gustas tu.
Que voy a hacer,
je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer
Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer
Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazn
Me gusta la canela, me gustas tu.
Me gusta el fuego, me gustas tu.
Me gusta menear, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la Corua, me gustas tu.
Me gusta Malasaa, me gustas tu.
Me gusta la castaa, me gustas tu.
Me gusta Guatemala, me gustas tu.
Que voy a hacer,
je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer
Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer
Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazn
Que voy a hacer,
je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer
Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer
Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazon
Que voy a hacer,
je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer
Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer
Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazon

Que horas son, mi corazon
Que horas son, mi corazon
Que horas son, mi corazon

Que horas son, mi corazon

Que horas son, mi corazon

Radio reloj

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Remedio chino e infalible

2 comments:

t said...

hey thank you so much for posting this, was trying to find a song, this song, and know little about it so finally tried a search for "french dance anthems je ne sais pas" since it was sort of an anthem. i too heard it first in dancehalls while travelling in what turned out to be the week of September 11. Crazy adventure, and glad to have found it thanks to you.
I'll also look to see if your blog is just choc full of awesome songs ;)

Unknown said...

thanx for the song, I'm mexican but I've been traveling around your country and I understand the world better since I'm there, as u travel to mine to understand the other part of the imperialism. I love Manu Chao and I like how you see my country, yours and their songs. So keep going! Your country will never be the same again but don't miss the past say welcome to future and live the present, every part of the history is made because of something.

REGARDS!!!