Las Cuarenta

With the smoke of life clenched between my lips,
My gaze cloudy and cold,
And a bit slow in my stride,
I turned the corner of the neighborhood, already drunk on memories,
Like pouring out poison, this is what I heard him sing.

Old street of my neighborhood where I took my first step,
I return to you tired, the deck in a useless shuffle
With a wound in my chest, with my dreams shattered,
That broke in an embrace that revealed the truth to me.

I learned all the good, I learned all the bad,
I know about the kiss that you buy, I know about the kiss that you give;
About the friend who’s a friend only when it suits him,
And I know that with a lot of cash, you’re worth a whole lot more.

I learned that in this life you gotta cry if others cry
And if the band laughs, you gotta laugh too;
Don’t think, not even by mistake...
What for, if you live anyway!
And besides, you run the risk of being called a fool!

The time I tried to be good, they laughed in my face;
When I shouted about an injustice, the power made me shut up;
Experience was my lover;
Disillusionment, my friend...
Every card has a counter and every counter is played!

Today I don’t even believe in myself.
Everything’s a trick, everything’s fake,
And that one, the one up high, is just like the rest
So don’t be surprised if, one night, drunk,
You see me walking arm in arm with someone I shouldn’t be with.

I learned all the good, I learned all the bad,
I know about the kiss that you buy,
I know about the kiss that you give;
About the friend who’s a friend
Only when it suits him,
And I know that with a lot of cash, you’re worth a whole lot more.
I learned that in this life you gotta cry
If others cry and if the band laughs, you gotta laugh too
Don’t think, not even by mistake, what for,
If you live anyway and besides, you run the risk
Of being called a fool.

Moorish port of Cádiz,
And the port where I saw you pass...
With the emerald in the sky,
With the emerald in the sea...

I asked the saints,
One night when it was raining...
I asked the saints,
One night when it was raining...
If you loved me
As much as you said,
And the saints told me...
That it was me who didn’t know
If I loved you...
Haya yai, haya yai, my heart...(repeat)
Put some seeds in the maracas so they’ll sound...(repeat)