Algarabía describes a lively, noisy commotion, often filled with cheerful voices, celebration, or excitement. In the song, “ya sonó la algarabía” evokes a burst of festive sound that contrasts intriguingly with the line about silencing the singer's song, making the word both colorful and memorable.
The singer opens by refusing blame: "Yo no tengo la culpa, papá" (It's not my fault, dad) "que la vi'a sea tan fea" (that life is so ugly). Against that ugliness he sets small, sweet things: "De color y ambrosía será" (It will be colour and ambrosia), and he takes "la pulpa que da el fruto de tus ficciones" (the pulp that the fruit of your fictions gives), as if living off someone's stories.
The chorus names the noise of the title: "Ya sonó la algarabía" (The racket has already sounded), "la que enmudeció mi canto" (the one that silenced my singing). His answer is stubborn: "Si no muero de agonía, yo me moriré cantando" (If I don't die of agony, I will die singing). The song ends at an old balcony where "una copla sonó" (a folk verse rang out), and he offers his songs as cheap and honest: "No son caro' y son bueno'" (They're not expensive and they're good), the dropped final letters marking his Andalusian-flavoured speech.