René Lyrics in English Residente

Below, I translated the lyrics of the song René by Residente from Spanish to English.
René, come, let's study
Yes, I'm gonna ask you a question, you answer it
With what part of the body did the Taíno Indians play ball?
René, answer me
Yes, it's easy
Pay attention, pay attention, look at me
With what part of the body, think, did the Taíno Indians play ball?
I know, I'll sing it to you and that way you'll learn it
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and
Since I was little I wanted to be a baseball player
I didn't make it so I learned to hit hits
Over a track
I drank again in my office
I write well sober but I write better drunk
When I fall into depression
I tell my problems to the airplane window
Stress makes me sick
I haven't slept for ten years
The IRS keeps investigating me
I'm getting divorced
But it doesn't matter, I'm still rhyming
I make mistakes but I do what I can
I learned to land without wheels
And even though they recognize me in the street
Not even my friends know me anymore
I'm sad and I laugh
The concert is full but I'm empty
In the music industry everything is a lie
My son has to eat so I keep touring
All I have left is what I have
I don't know where I'm going but I know where I'm from
I grew up with Cristopher, my bro
We threw stones together
We broke a couple windows
We ran through the street shirtless
On the Trujillo plots
Downhill, on a bike
The bike on the mud
With a plastic cup on the tire
So that it sounds like a car
We recharged energy with Malta India
And garlic bread, nobody stopped us
We were inseparable
Until one day
Four cops killed him
My happiness is still broken
The lights went out in the ballpark
There's almost nobody left here
Sometimes I don't want to be here anymore
I feel alone here, in the middle of the party
I want to be where nobody bothers me
To burn my notebook, drop my suitcase
I want to call 7550822
To see who answers
The fights with my stepdad
When he lost control
I settled them with him
Watching a baseball game
He invited me to fight a couple times
I ran away from home a couple times
But food never lacked
He defended us with music
Playing at weddings
Sometimes baked
Sometimes from a can and microwave
We shared everything, the table was round
Lower middle class
We were never owners
The bank loan
Stole our dream
The savings account empty
But babe dancing flamenco
Brightened our day
She stopped acting to look after the four of us
And we became her play
She put on our boots
And her life was about our achievements
And our losses
My stepdad went off with other fish
We moved away from Calle 13
I went to look for luck in a sea of straw
And I packed my whole life in a box
At the art university they gave me a scholarship
Half my friends were killed
I started rapping again, I started believing again
I came back, dropped a record
I ate the world in one bite
In Puerto Rico they fired workers
I insulted the governor, it was televised
They censored four years of my calendar
Grandma died, she didn't see me play in the stadium
I said everything that I felt
They love me more abroad than in my own country
But even if a German sings my songs
I want that they bury me in old San Juan
It might be that I hide the sadness
But I'm made of rice with pigeon peas
And it hurts me
It doesn't matter that the dawn rum consoles me
From inside the pulp
If I f*cked up, I dedicate four floors of apologies to my country
There's almost nobody left here
Sometimes I don't want to be here anymore
I feel alone here, in the middle of the party
I want to be where nobody bothers me
To burn my notebook, drop my suitcase
I want to call 7550822
To see who answers
And if they answer me, I want to tell them that I want to come back
That I want to leave this hotel and disappear
And if they answer me, I want to tell them that I want to drop the curtain
That sometimes my blood pressure goes up
That I'm scared that the plane will fall
That I don't care about the tours, the records, the Grammys
And that on 11th Street I want to see Halley's comet again with babe
I want to go back to when
My windows were sunshine and the heat woke me up
To when they called me to play
To when I rapped without getting paid
I want to take the baseball cards out of the case
To steal second base again
In summer, at Christmas, cleaning the house with my brothers
Listening to Rubén Blades
I want to go back, go to the movies during the week
And get to art school in the morning
I want to stay there, I don't want to leave there
I want to go back to when they didn't let me in because I dressed bad
I want to feel again, to when I didn't have to pretend
I want to be me again
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Head, knee, thighs and hip
Lyrics and Translations Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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SONG MEANING

René is Residente’s most personal song, a seven-minute diary that invites us to jump on a time machine. It opens with his mother quizzing little René about Taíno baseball, then travels through bike rides in muddy streets, homemade flamenco shows, and childhood friendships that ended in tragedy. Each memory is delivered over a tender piano loop, while the playful chant “Cabeza, rodilla, muslos y cadera” circles back like a school-yard rhyme, reminding us of the innocence he is searching for.

As the verses move forward, the tone darkens. Residente confesses to insomnia, divorce papers, IRS audits, and the crushing loneliness that can hide behind sold-out arenas. He questions the music industry’s lies, mourns loved ones lost, and wonders if the price of fame is worth it. Yet the song is not only a lament; it is a love letter to Puerto Rico and to the boy he used to be. By the end, his biggest wish is simple: to go home, play baseball with his friends, and feel real again. “René” turns vulnerability into strength, showing that sometimes the bravest act is admitting that you want to go back to where your heart started.

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