Rage In Music: The Spanish Break-Up Song
Unlike its English counterpart, the Spanish-language break-up song is significantly more aggressive. It directly attacks, insults and even ridicules the departed party, giving the scorned lover full liberty to unleash their rage.
Few words are off limits!
While Gloria Gaynor’s greatest hit, I Will Survive takes us through the healthy process of overcoming our fears, discovering our inner strength and resolving to learn from our mistakes: I’m not that chained up little person / still in love with you / now I’m saving all my loving / for someone who’s loving me; Gloria Trevi’s Cinco Minutos (Five Minutes) openly boasts about her ex’s misfortune: I’ll give you five minutes; vent / Don’t think I don’t have anything better to do / And if I said hello it was only a courtesy / Now you are at the bottom and I am at the top.
On the other side of the spectrum, Beyonce’s chart topper, Irreplaceable steps up the rage: You could pack all your things, we’re finished / Cause you made your bed, now lay in it / I can have another you by tomorrow / Don’t you ever for a second get to thinking you’re irreplaceable; but still is not as forceful as say Pesado’s Ojala (Hopefully), which leaves very little to the imagination: Hopefully / Life will charge you with interest the damage you’ve done to me / That you may not find love, And if one day you do / That it fails / Hopefully someone will make you suffer and from all the pain / You will no longer desire to live / That you will want to die.
Now that’s frustration!
La India’s Que Me Importa (What do I care?), callously expresses: What do I care to see you like that, without dignity / I don’t care about anything and that is your truth / What do I care… / If it takes you a lifetime to understand / That you have lost me / If our memories hurt you / And cause you to cry like a child / What do I care? Not to be forgotten. Few can deliver a great break-up song as well as the Mexican singer Paquita la del Barrio (Paquita from the hood). Her most popular anthem Rata de dos patas (Two-legged rat) spares no offense in its fury: Disgusting rat / Despicable animal / Slum of the earth / Ridiculous mistake / Damn reptile / How much damage you have caused me / Trash of this life / I hate you and despise you.
Next time you’re unfortunate enough to be suffering from a love affair gone wrong, you might give Spanish break-up songs a chance. They may not have a lasting impact, but in the moment, they are a hell of a quick fix.
If you have a favorite break-up song of your own, share it here.
Song Links:
Gloria Gaynor – I will survive
Paquita la del Barrio – Rata de dos patas
My first introduction to this song came by way of Nydia Rojas’ 1999 album Si Me Conocieras. It was the only English song on the compilation, and quite frankly the best one out of all of them. What I didn’t know was that millions of people before me had already fallen in love with this song since it was first used as an instrumental theme by Charlie Chaplin in 1936. The first person to actually record the lyrics to this song was Nat King Cole in 1954. Ironically, his daughter Natalie Cole also covered Smile on her 1991 album, Unforgettable…With Love. Other major artists to have covered the song include Michael Jackson (1995), Eric Clapton (1974), Josh Groban (2006), Barbara Streisand, and Harry Conick, Jr., among many others. In fact, Smile appeared on America’s music charts many times – #10 in 1954, #73 in 1959, #42 in 1961, #94 in 1962, and #42 in 1965. 
Originally released in 2001 as track number five on Lila Downs’ Border/La Linea album, this poetry of song was written by Lila herself and Mr. Paul Cohen of BMI Records. The song La Niña (The Young Girl) was dedicated to the maquiladora workers of Mexico by its authors. It went on appear as one of the title tracks for the movie Real Women Have Curves starring America Ferrera, of Ugly Betty fame, and Lupe Ontiveros, Selena the movie and Desperate Housewives, in 2002.
So I’ve always been a huge fan of great lyrics. Notice I said great lyrics and not music or singers, although who can resist the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Whitney, and yeah even some of Beyonce’s body of work. My taste in singers has always leaned more towards feminine vocals. There is just something about the female’s ability to harmonize that mesmerizes me.
