Border Censorship
Funny thing happened today during my commute home from work. I was listening to a Mexican radio sation which was playing the Molotov song "Frijolero"..to be suprised that the song was being censored...the funny thing is... they censored all the spanish cuss words but neglected to censor the english cuss words...I thought it was so funny...me cage de risas in the middle of US83.
Here's a vague attempt to describe it. Below are the lyrics to the song. The words that were censored are in bold. Click here to listen a "frijolero" mp3.
Yo ya estoy hasta la madre
de que me pongan sombrero,
escucha entonces cuando digo:
"No me llames frijolero".
Y aunque exista algún respeto,
y no metamos las narices.
Nunca inflamos la moneda,
haciendo guerra a otros países.
Te pagamos con petróleo
o intereses, nuestra deuda.
Mientras tanto no sabemos
quién se queda con la feria.
Aunque nos hagan la fama
de que somos vendedores.
De la droga que sembramos,
ustedes son consumidores.
Don't call me gringo,
You fuckin' beaner.
Stay on your side
of that goddamn river.
Don't call me gringo,
You beaner.
No me digas beaner,
Mr. Puñetero.
Te sacaré un susto
por racista y culero.
No me llames frijolero,
Pinche gringo puñetero.
Now I wish I had a dime
for every single time
I've gotten stared down
for being in the wrong side of town.
And a rich man I'd be
if I had that kind of chips.
Lately I wanna smack the mouths
of these racists.
Podrás imaginarte desde afuera,
ser un Mexicano cruzando la frontera,
pensando en tu familia mientras que pasas,
dejando todo lo que tú conoces atrás.
Si tuvieras tú que esquivar las balas
de unos cuantos gringos rancheros.
¿Les seguirás diciendo: “good for nothing wetback”
si tuvieras tú que empezar de cero?
Now why don't you look down
to where your feet is planted.
That U.S. soil that makes you take shit for granted.
If not for Santa Ana, just to let you know
that where your feet are planted would be Mexico.
¡Correcto!
So the following spanish words that were censored were: Puñetero, Culero and Pinche....all spanish words too offensive for my ears as decided by Mexican censors, yet immediately followed by references to Fuck, Shit, Gringo and 'Beaner...words I think American censors would not let pass. Yet American radio stations have no problem playing the song "culo" by rap artist Pitbull, where references to a chica's culo is mentioned about 50 times. I am not complaining though...I like both songs...its just funny to realize that one does have a bi-cultural perspective on life. The point of all of this...living on the border has its moments of funny irony. JA!
Here's a vague attempt to describe it. Below are the lyrics to the song. The words that were censored are in bold. Click here to listen a "frijolero" mp3.
Yo ya estoy hasta la madre
de que me pongan sombrero,
escucha entonces cuando digo:
"No me llames frijolero".
Y aunque exista algún respeto,
y no metamos las narices.
Nunca inflamos la moneda,
haciendo guerra a otros países.
Te pagamos con petróleo
o intereses, nuestra deuda.
Mientras tanto no sabemos
quién se queda con la feria.
Aunque nos hagan la fama
de que somos vendedores.
De la droga que sembramos,
ustedes son consumidores.
Don't call me gringo,
You fuckin' beaner.
Stay on your side
of that goddamn river.
Don't call me gringo,
You beaner.
No me digas beaner,
Mr. Puñetero.
Te sacaré un susto
por racista y culero.
No me llames frijolero,
Pinche gringo puñetero.
Now I wish I had a dime
for every single time
I've gotten stared down
for being in the wrong side of town.
And a rich man I'd be
if I had that kind of chips.
Lately I wanna smack the mouths
of these racists.
Podrás imaginarte desde afuera,
ser un Mexicano cruzando la frontera,
pensando en tu familia mientras que pasas,
dejando todo lo que tú conoces atrás.
Si tuvieras tú que esquivar las balas
de unos cuantos gringos rancheros.
¿Les seguirás diciendo: “good for nothing wetback”
si tuvieras tú que empezar de cero?
Now why don't you look down
to where your feet is planted.
That U.S. soil that makes you take shit for granted.
If not for Santa Ana, just to let you know
that where your feet are planted would be Mexico.
¡Correcto!
So the following spanish words that were censored were: Puñetero, Culero and Pinche....all spanish words too offensive for my ears as decided by Mexican censors, yet immediately followed by references to Fuck, Shit, Gringo and 'Beaner...words I think American censors would not let pass. Yet American radio stations have no problem playing the song "culo" by rap artist Pitbull, where references to a chica's culo is mentioned about 50 times. I am not complaining though...I like both songs...its just funny to realize that one does have a bi-cultural perspective on life. The point of all of this...living on the border has its moments of funny irony. JA!
posted by Mayra | 10:42 PM
4 Comments:
I just loved your comments and points you made. I even shared this with my eldest son.
Z
Yup. I always thought that was funny when I listened to certain songs on the radio.
I am glad you liked it Z. Thanks for sharing it as well. :)
Thanks for this story. I blogged about it, way after the fact, here.
I also linked to a detailed explanation of the song by Alan Wall and I'm wondering how reliable his literal translation of some of the terms in the song might be. Care to take a look and comment? ¡Gracias!
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