Cuando Despierto

Silvio Rodriguez's song 'Cuando Despierto' delves into the profound themes of life, death, and the passage of time through a surreal and introspective dream. The song begins with the narrator dreaming of their own funeral, a scenario that is both eerie and oddly comforting. The imagery of 'twenty skeletons inflated with air' and a coffin that opens 'like laughing' suggests a whimsical, almost playful approach to the concept of death. This dreamscape is populated by familiar faces—friends, old loves, and deceased grandparents—creating a sense of continuity and connection between the past and the present.

The dream also features symbolic elements such as a bust of the poet Vallejo and a child's drawing of the sun under the narrator's mother's telephone. These symbols evoke a sense of nostalgia and the enduring influence of art and family. The presence of these items in the dream suggests that the narrator's identity is deeply rooted in their personal history and cultural heritage. The dream blurs the lines between reality and imagination, as the narrator wakes up to find the world unchanged, yet imbued with the lingering essence of the dream.

As the song progresses, the narrator experiences a sense of disorientation, caught between the dream world and waking life. The act of writing the song itself becomes a meta-narrative, as the narrator dreams of composing the very song they are singing. This recursive structure highlights the fluidity of time and the interconnectedness of dreams and reality. The song ultimately suggests that our dreams and memories are integral to our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world, even as we navigate the mundane aspects of daily life.