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Radio Clock – Radio Reloj – is a Cuban radio station, which vocally announces the
minutes. The deep voice announcing “Radio
Reloj” with
the rolling r’s and then the times, as well as other time information,
overlay the song itself – they are in dark red in the lyrics. In between the time information, Radio Reloj has
international news. See the following
link, where you can sample the radio broadcast by clicking the “AUDIO EN
VIVO” link on the upper right of the
first link. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Reloj Manu Chao is a French singer born in Paris in 1961,
who sings in French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Arabic. His “Me gustas tú” is a tribute to Radio Reloj. The cadence of the song refers to the ticks
on Radio Reloj. The song spends a night with
a sleepless fellow thinking of his girl, as he muses over what he likes (but
always comes back to liking “you”), as Radio Reloj keeps telling him how the night is slowly
passing. Manu Chao’s multi-lingual
background is evident in each line of the chorus, the first half of which is
in Spanish and the second half in French.
The French halves are hard to translate properly and get the correct
underlying flavor and tone for the song, and that is undoubtedly why he did
them in French. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Chao Here is a YouTube version of the song that is very
close to the lyrics: La Coruña, or A Coruña, is a city in northwestern Spain. Malasaña is an area
of Madrid famous for its trendy night scene. Regarding "la castaña" or "the chestnut", in northwestern Spain near La
Coruña, there
is a holiday for gathering chestnuts in late October or early November.
See http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta%C3%B1a The first two lines appear to be a Manu Chao-style
introduction to the song. The song has a theme similar to a country-western
song by Tom T. Hall, "I Love You", which is more melancholy and
slower paced. See |
