Los Nosequien y los Nosecuantos – Las Torres

December 30, 2011 — 1 Comment

Any Peruvian of my generation has to have grown up with, at least, one Los Nosequien y los Nosecuantos song. Maybe not Cuando tu Me Pegas [1], but certainly Magdalena [1], Los Patos y Las Patas [MV] — and obviously Las Torres.

Part political satire, part serious social commentary, part anthem, part pop hit, part party flare and full Peruvian rock — Las Torres, meaning The Towers (as in transmission towers), was a huge hit in its time and its the musical staple of the… maybe not defunct but definitely stale Los NSQ y Los NSC (for short).

Long gone are the days of the constant nights without lights due to the blowing up of transmission towers, the curfews, being a kid then was… not the bomb. Cable, internet were non-existent and any form of entertainment was limited to just the couple of channels… and you were lucky to have a working TV.

Have we ever asked ourselves what good were computers without internet?? LOL

Anyway, I digress — the wordplay in Las Torres is an obvious play on the famous Un Elefante se Balanceaba (An Elephant Swinging) [here’s a clip] which I guess you don’t have in English version of… but a close version would be the Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall song? In the Elephant Song, you would sing that “an elephant is swinging on top of a spider’s web, seeing as it lasted, it calls one elephant more” which makes the song endless.

So here goes my translation~

The Towers

A terrorist, two terrorists
were swinging on top of a fallen tower,
seeing as it lasted,
they went on to call a comrade.

A terrorist, two terrorists,
a MRTA guerrillero,
a drug dealer in el Huallaga
were swinging on top of a fallen tower,
seeing as it lasted,
they went on to call Alan García…

A terrorist, two terrorists,
a MRTA guerrillero,
a drug dealer in el Huallaga,
an APRA bufallo* Agustín Mantilla,  //  *Bufalo Aprista is the street name for old school members of the APRA party.
Alan García and company Villanueva
were swinging on top of a fallen tower,
seeing as it lasted,
they went on to call Abimael.

A terrorist, two terrorists,
a MRTA guerrillero,
a drug dealer in el Huallaga,
an APRA bufallo Agustín Mantilla,
Alan García and company-
Villanueva del Campo
gross me out so much
like Chirinos Soto with his buttface,
like five policemen on the corner
of Larco selling raffles to the drunkards,
and total corruption that’s everywhere,
and with five lucas*  //  *lucas are Peruvian soles, so it would be *bucks to US dollars
I’ll buy a representative, a judge, a district attorney,
a couple of lawyers, an architect or by default
a novelist, a couple of journalists,
an archbishop, a cardinal,
a weeping virgin, and a real virgin,
and maybe even Fujimori.

If there’s no solution, the strike continues-
If there’s no solution, the strike continues-
If there’s no solution, the strike continues,
If there’s no solution-
on top of a fallen tower,
seeing as it lasted,
someone went on to call an electrician.

Trackbacks and Pingbacks:

  1. » Gianmarco – Entre la Arena y la Luna Lyrics Translation personal.amy-wong.com – A Blog by Amy Wong. - May 13, 2012

    […] Gianmarco – Entre la Arena y la Luna Lyrics Translation Posted on May 11, 2012 by Amy Gianmarco – Entre la Arena y la Luna Lyrics Translation I thought that I would practice my Spanish to English translation skills by translating some songs — I’ve recently done partial translations of Marc Anthony [1], as well as Shakira and Gianmarco when I talked about What Were Good Lyrics. I’ve also done full translations for Polvos Azules: A Cinephile’s Paradise, and random songs of Los Nosequien y los Nosecuantos [1][2]. […]

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