René Lyrics in English Residente

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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

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

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aterrizar — to land

Aterrizar means "to land," typically referring to an airplane. It's a powerful verb, but in this song, Residente uses it metaphorically in a striking and unforgettable way.

He raps, "Aprendí a aterrizar sin ruedas" (I learned to land without wheels). This lyric isn't about aviation; it's a raw metaphor for surviving life's brutal crasheshandling crises, failures, and rock-bottom moments without the normal support systems. It perfectly captures the song's theme of resilience and painful survival, making it a poignant word to learn.

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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Residente René Lyrics