Amy’s Blast From the Past: Extranjero Hablare

by amy · July 5, 2013

The other day I asked my dad, “why did you ever let me sing Sol Forastero when I was a child?” He simply responded that it was “Miguel Bose.” He told me his “fandom” story about how he had traveled to Venezuela back in those days and had bought Miguel Bose’s LPs because my mother liked him, and once he did this and listened to Bose’s music, he became a fan.

He actually has a whole bunch of his albums since the mid 80s, and most of his CD collection revolves around Bose and other assorted worldwide musicians like Kitaro, The Eagles, The Beatles, Santana (he also adores Santana), Luis Miguel, Leo Dan, The Carpenters, and Mana. Back in the 90s, he used to have a Karaoke bar, and with the lack of funds to import Japanese Laser Discs and no easy technology to create your own Karaoke tracks, he took to Power Point and good ole’ listening and writing to get a songs lyrics for his own Karaoke track.

As a result, of course, I know the lyrics to Miguel Bose’s Sol Forastero by heart. As a child I would sing them out loud because the song requires you to sing out loud — the problem was that the chorus of the song isn’t exactly kid-friendly.

Pero que mito hey!
Que barras ni que estrellas
De qué me hablas chica mira que te ciegas
Pero que libertad que clase de cultura
Pero que gringo mandingo ni que polla dura
Pero que presidente ni que rascacielos
Pero que sociedad que vive sin camelos
Pero que coño dices mira como comes
Que si que ve, ve, ve de donde dan las tomes, eh-eh!

I actually, to this day, don’t know exactly what this chorus means. LOL At least, I can’t fully translate it word for word, as it’s very hard to do so. It translates to something like “But what a myth, hey! But what bar (?) and what stars- what are you talking, girl, take a look that you’re becoming blind. But what freedom and what kind of culture. But what devil gringo and what rock hard c*ck. But what president and what skyscrapers. But what society that lives without hoaxes. But what the f*ck are you saying, look at how you’re eating- that if you go, go, go where they give them you take, eh-eh!”