El Ocho Lyrics in English by Luis R Conriquez, Julian Mercado

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song El Ocho by Luis R Conriquez from Spanish to English.

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

News reports reported a convoy of armed people

They entered Caborca and secured that place

They bring the orders of a man who leads his race

With the line they sail I think they fall short

Warlike mode, the plebes, camouflaged, go in disguise

The land has an owner at the order of the chapitos

Waters with the flyer, it is not known where it will attack

From the Sonoran desert he is the one who carries the keys

They mention it on the radio

'Like 8, that's the key, like 8, that's the key'

Wherever the rooster crows when the sun rises or sets

You don't escape from danger, you always carry a little bit

And although it brings new places, Sonoyta does not neglect

And even though the water is stirred, the pan has the upper hand

He has several friends who are very high-ranking

And there in Altar and in Caborca, patrolling his command

Of war and for war are your only options

He who is made of good wood is distinguished by his actions

So that there is no doubt

That here the bald ones raffle, that here the bald ones raffle

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"El Ocho" is a corrido told like a news bulletin. It opens with the TV reports: "Reportaron noticieros un convoy de gente armada" (the news reported a convoy of armed people), rolling into Caborca, a town in the Sonora desert, to take control of the plaza. In this world a plaza is not a town square but a territory someone runs.

The man giving the orders is never named outright. On the radio they call him by a code: "Como el 8, esa es la clave" (Like the 8, that's the code). That number is the song's title and its whole hook. The lyrics stack up Sonora place names, Sonoyta, Altar and Caborca, and say the land answers to "los chapitos", a nickname for a faction in Mexico's cartel world. The plebes (young guys, the crew) go "camuflados van de pinto" (in camouflage, dressed in pattern), and "aguas con la voladora" means watch out for the drone, since aguas is Mexican slang for "heads up".

A few lines are nice bits of idiom to learn. "El sartén trae por el mango" (he holds the pan by the handle) means he is the one in control, even when "el agua esté revuelta" (the water is choppy). "El que es de buena madera" (the one made of good wood) is someone of solid character. And the closing brag, "aquí rifan los pelones", uses rifar, slang for being the best, and pelones (the bald ones), a nickname for the soldiers of the crew. It is a swaggering, blunt song, and very much in the narco-corrido tradition.

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Luis R Conriquez El Ocho Lyrics