El Rey Solo Lyrics in English by Ana Tijoux

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song El Rey Solo by Ana Tijoux from Spanish to English.

These lyrics have verified word for word translations. Click any lyric word to see the translation and hear the pronunciation!

The king is alone in his sharpness

The king is alone, sitting shyly

It's a cage of monkeys, all are waiting

And all want the throne

Here, the throne worn out by years of greed

Of hierarchical marble and selfish wood

Of pompous surnames, severe discipline

Of the role he never wanted, governing was always a thorn

A thorn that for all is an offering

A painful flower, tightly held without a rein

The king feels alone but nobody sees him

The hidden veil, for nobody knows that he

He sees everything and he just waits to see

Who will be the one to throw the first stone

So many monkeys in a single cage

So many primates waiting for the king to fall

The king is alone, just wandering

Remembering loved ones who gave him their hand

Loved ones who then sharpened their teeth

They swallowed time and became absent

The king is alone, just with a crown

A crown shapeless, old, and amorphous

Subdued by power, and dusted with gray

Opaque in its entrails, and of a rotten matrix

He never saw himself, he thinks, and the truth even less

To feel surrounded by perverse animals

Who only wanted greed and fed their ego

Which they would never satisfy because affection was blind

The king speaks alone with seriousness and nobility

He went mad in a palace of sadness

Surprise, he has seen a cloak woven in madness

Majestic disorder and in the street he whispers

For listen, the street king

I am the lucid one, the rest are the mad ones

So much majesty hypnotized the floor for me

So much loneliness and lost faces

So many anonymous people who dream like children

Who never felt like two in this limbo

So many skins, stories, and wrinkles

So many pages of an unread book

While he just gets up and tells us

I am sane, you all have gone mad, mad, mad, mad

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Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

ANA MARIA MERINO TIJOUX, ANDRES CELIS MUJICA, ANDRES MUJICA CELIS, LUCIANO NAKATA ALBUQUERQUE

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agidez — sharpness / quickness (of mind)

Agidez is a less common, more formal word for 'sharpness' or 'quickness of mind,' derived from 'ágil' (agile). It carries a sense of mental acuity and readiness.

In the song, it's used to describe the king's state: "El rey esta solo en su agidez" (The king is alone in his sharpness/acuity). This suggests a king who is mentally sharp and aware, yet isolated in his thoughts and perceptions, making his solitude even more poignant.

Ana Tijoux, a Chilean artist, brings us "El Rey Solo" [The Lonely King], a song that really makes you think about power and isolation. The lyrics paint a picture of a king sitting alone, timidly, in what feels like a "jaula de monos" [cage of monkeys]. Everyone around him is just waiting for their chance at the throne, which is described as "gastado por años de codicia" [worn out by years of greed]. It's not a pretty image, with its "marmol jerárquico y de madera egoísta" [hierarchical marble and selfish wood].

What's fascinating is how the king's role, which he "nunca quiso" [never wanted], is seen by others as an "ofrenda" [offering], a "flor dolorosa" [painful flower]. He feels incredibly alone, but no one sees it. He's just watching, waiting to see "Quien sera el que tira la primera piedra" [Who will be the one to throw the first stone]. The song really highlights the hypocrisy and betrayal, as those who once offered a hand later "afilaron los dientes" [sharpened their teeth]. The king's crown is described as "añeja y amorfa" [old and amorphous], filled with power but also with a "podrida matriz" [rotten matrix]. He feels surrounded by "animales perversos" [perverse animals] who only want greed. It's a powerful and somewhat tragic look at the loneliness that can come with power, and the madness it can bring, as the king eventually declares, "Yo estoy descuerdo, ustedes han enloquecido" [I am sane, you have gone crazy].

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Ana Tijoux El Rey Solo Lyrics