Memoirs of an aching soul

The mexican band “Maná” is one of the latin bands with more worldwide repercussion; that´s a fact. Yesterday I was listening to Maná’s “MTV Unplugged”, an album that offers an interesting song compilation, in an excellent acoustic version. But beyond its undeniable musical quality I will enhance a circumstance that never stops to amaze me in every album they bring up: The main characters of Maná’s songs are continuously suffering.

Memoirs of an aching soul

If we examine Maná’s lyrics in this album, we certainly realize that they’ve got many problems (love problems, mostly). In fact, I hope that the songs do not reflect of the band member’s life, because I haven´t met many people so innocent in this matter.

Well. Let’s imagine that one only person is the leading role in most of the album´s songs:

In track 1 “No ha parado de llover” (“It hasn´t stopped raining”), we guess that the main character has been left by his lover (you will see this is almost a constant feature), and he doesn’t seem to be able to do anything but cry with sorrow, counting on his lover to come back. Poor naive guy!

As it seems that she doesn’t take any notice of him, he suffers from an anxiety crisis. This is the motif for track 3 “Vivir sin aire” (“Living without air”). Here he leaves some laments like “I feel like I´m dying”, “I’m suffocating without your love”, etc.

In track 5 “Cachito” (“Little bit”) he just begs, in a less tragic way, for a piece of her Heart. We suppose that his anxiety crisis has finished.

It seems like our friend is given up taking pity upon himself, and has accepted the fact that his couple has left him. Track 6 “Te solté la rienda” (“I loosened your reins”), seems to be an inflection point in the beginning, but the previous affliction soon follows. He thinks that “the pretty love” is his. In these moments, I don’t know if I should feel sorry for him or glad for her.

We have to jump over some tracks (very sad songs, of course) to take our leading actor up again in Track 11 “Rayando el sol” (“Scraping the sun”). Here he opts for some more direct arguments, acussing his lover of being “cold”. This is a less lame option, but he looks like a perfect idiot by now.

Time has passed away since the rupture, or so it seems in Track 12 (“Se me olvidó otra vez”) (“I forgot again”). This song is the peak of his depression. Let’s examine the situation: he decides to wait for her “in the usual place, in the usual town and with the usual people”. Ok. It´s obvious: he likes to mortify himself. By the way, I recommend you to pay attention to the track “El muelle de San Blas” (“St. Blas’ dock”), because it´s identical in intentions, but from a feminine point of view.

In Track 14 “Oye, mi amor” (“Listen, my love”), he already knows that she has got a new boyfriend, and he begins to claim that her new relationship is “sad and boring”. What the hell is he saying? Has he ever looked at himself in a mirror? Has he ever made a self reflection exercise? Oh, what a nerd!

Well. Maybe you were thinking if there are more songs with different themes in the album. Yes, there are. Tracks 4, 7, 8 and 10 are social denunciation songs not recommended for depressive spirits. Track 9 is a brief instrumental work. The last song, “Perdido en un barco” (“Lost in a boat”), is not sad, but that´s the exception. Hallelujah!

Besides the precedent comments, Maná includes very good music in this “MTV Unplugged”, indeed. There are excellent moments in “Vivir sin aire”, “Desapariciones”, “Rayando el sol” or “Cuando los ángeles lloran”. I hope you enjoy it!

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