Manu Chao - Clandestino (Lyrics). Eva Aslanidou. March 13, 2013.
Esto Cancion lifts layers of buried memory--Miami Beach/South Beach, played every time I was there, at a place right in the heart of SoBe just near 5th Avenue, which was called affectionately by it's inhabitants as "The Yard". It had a central area with three apartment buildings facing into the interior where everyone got out and played chess, did each other's hair, manicures, smoked a lot of pot, listened to music on loud speakers--had parties until the police came at 2 am., etc in this central grassy area. It was there where this album by Mano Chao was played so repeatedly by Argentinian peeps (white males, a family of them, with blonde hair and blue eyes) along with Columbians and white models out of East Europe and Americans and African-Americans and French and Germans--it was a cloister of international "alternative"/skateboard hipster stuff--musicians, many of them. One of the little factions in this group was inter-racial--many intermingled everyone seemingly mixed. They appeared to be "liberal" but actually were "gang stalking" terrorists. The whites who later attacked me openly after years of feigning fake but illusive "friendship" (meaning only socializing in The Yard and never anywhere else except for a few, brief occasions. I recall this album played by the South/Central white males, but speaking Spanish because their grandparents had immigrated there from Europe ostensibly after WWII (hint hint). Some of the fleeing Europ'a's also flew to Oz-land.
Of course they proved to be terrorist "gang stalkers" with absolute affinity to Nazi white supremacy but had support system groups of all kinds of minority minions surrounding them almost all the time (the most hostile one towards me was inter-racially-married and then got divorced leaving his African-American wife with children) while stalking me once I was in the various stage of almost open hostility. Absolutely smiling with hateful warm crocodile smiles before that latter stage.
This album reminds me of them and so I stopped listening to it out of cringing negative memories, but somehow because it was played on Democracy Now just a few days ago by another band which is a lively group endeavor with applications to the real meaning of the song but put in a real folksy and encouraging way, it has been restored in my mind and heart to it's more potent and original meaning and application.
Because I never read the lyrics before today, I did a search to actually understand what the real meaning of this song Clandestino is, because my bare understanding of English got me as far as understanding it was regarding immigration and the Babylon of modern society, I got lost in the words I have never heard before.
I then discovered today that the lyrics regard smoking marijuana, and I think that was when those white Nazi boy descendants who utilized the brown and black minority minions to do their foul and nasty hate attacks upon me, would always play that song dancing a bit while passing hand-rolled joints around to one another. In Miami prosecutions of drugs inevitably are far outweighed towards the poorer sections and the courthouses have indictments aimed at low-level drug use like MJ for blacks and Latinos but on South Beach the "entitled" drug users do this stuff openly and the police never come--this "yard" area was always an open pot smoking place, in broad daylight with a residential but fairly busy street system grid surrounding this heart and central location in very police-packed Miami Beach. This all happened during those latter 1990's days on South Beach when the MJ was illegal but abundant like the rays of the rank sun beating down on freezing implacable hearts.
Good memories/bad memories, the song remains fascinating but played by this band. There is another version by Shakira which is like all the bland pop songs synthesized and amplified with a monotone vocal range instead of the personality of Manu Chao.
Ay caramba~!
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The real lyrics translated into English:
Clandestino (English translation)
Artist: Manu Chao •Also performed by: Adriana Calcanhotto, Florent Pagny, Natalia Doco
Song: Clandestino •Album: Clandestino
Clandestine*
I come only with my punishment
There comes only my conviction
Running is my fate
In order to deceive the law
Lost in the heart
Of the great Babylon
They call me the Clandestine*
'cause I don't carry any identity papers
To a northern city
I went for work
I left my life behind
Between Ceuta and Gibraltar
I'm a just a rake on the sea
A ghost in the city
My life is prohibited
Says the authority
I come only with my punishment
There comes only my conviction
Running is my fate
'cause I don't carry any identity papers
Lost in the heart
Of the great Babylon
They call me the Clandestine*
I'm the sellout of law
Clandestine Black Hand**
Peruvian Clandestine*
African Clandestine*
Marijuana illegal
I come only with my punishment
There comes only my conviction
Running is my fate
In order to deceive the law
Lost in the heart
Of the great Babylon
They call me the Clandestine*
'cause I don't carry any identity papers
Algerian Clandestine*
Nigerian Clandestine*
Bolivian Clandestine*
Black Hand** illegal
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"Lila Downs Performs "Clandestino" for Democracy Now!'s 25th Anniversary". Democracy Now! December 31, 2021.
"About Clandestino
"Clandestino" is the second single and the title track from Manu Chao's first album, Clandestino. The lyrics of the song are sung in Spanish and deal with the issue of immigration: "I wrote it about the border between Europe and those coming from poorer nations. Look around — maybe 30% of the people in this street are clandestino [illegal]." The song peaked at number 78 on the French charts. It charted again in November 2013, peaking at number 196"--
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Clandestino - English Lyrics (The Shakira version)
Horrible muy!!!! I see that the Shakira version with "English subtitles" completely erases the original lyrics and turns it into a sexualized version of a writhing sex symbol complaining about a Don Juan type reality where she doesn't want a scrub/aka player. Like totally changed it to a sex version of the wealthy going out playin' instead of the fight against illegal immigrant status and the distortion between wealth and poverty in the global hemispheres! Dude....how much more commercialized can you re-create an original version into it's near opposite? Such a typical reversal from the original rebellion work to the antithesis always promoted at highest commercial levels as an undermining of the original concept. Dude....like damn.
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I can now once more enjoy the entire album now that it's been cleansed of the Nazi Argentinian association. Thanks Democracy Now for this little "gift". It's really a decent album.
You can hear the difference in depth of meaning between the computer-generated, synthesized version that Shakira above gyrates out in that sexualized pop version that is so popular nowadays. It has no meaning other than I will give sex and be and perform primarily as a sex object but want something from a sex partner other than a purely meaningless computer blue sex type of mentality.
In other words, Manu Chao and PERSONALITY like an artist that has actually something to say and not to sell sex or other fake legions of adhesions of sleaze to denigrate actual meaning or profound expressions about life and justice and sanctity of human beings.
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