Born Aug 22, 1961 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he began his professional musical career at the age of 17 playing keyboards in Raíces.
In 1981 he incorporated to one of the main bands of the Argentinean '80s rock scene: Los Abuelos de la Nada. Although the band was led by the brilliant Miguel Abuelo, Calamaro composed most of the band's hits, like "Mil Horas," "Así es el calor," "Sin gamulán" and "Costumbres Argentinas."
In 1984 he made his solo debut with Hotel Calamaro. The album was a bizarre mix of styles and musicians, and didn't gain public or press support.
In 1985 he left Los Abuelos de la Nada and registered his second album Vida Cruel. Inspite of the important musicians and guests, such as Luis Alberto Spinetta and Charly García, the album was a disappointment: both commercially and artistically. But if as a songwriter the luck was out of reach, he had an intense and successful work as a producer of bands like Los Enanitos Verdes, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Don Cornelio y la zona. He also worked and collaborated with many artists of different styles and genres, a constant attitude through his whole career. The third album Por Mirarte showed Calamaro in a better shape with an established band. Released in 1988 it contains some outstanding songs such as "Con los dientes apretados" and "Me olvidé de los demás," while others like "Cartas sin Marcar" and "Loco por tí" helped the album to get popular.
When Calamaro released in 1989 Nadie Sale Vivo de Aquí, Argentina was living it's worst economical crisis: few albums were released. The album title suggest it all: Nobody comes out alive from here. The LP production was paralyzed, and the few that could make it were almost ignored. That was Calamaro's case. This situation lead the singer to settle in Spain, following a road taken by many Argentinean rockers. Out there in Spain he met Ariel Rot y Javier Infante, former members of Tequila. They formed Los Rodríguez in 1991, a pop-rock band that was very popular in Spain and Latin America: Calamaro's songs began to be popular like in the early '80s: the hit maker was on the road again. Curiously, from Spain, he was conquering Argentina. While being part of the band he didn't release any new solo material, just Grabaciones Encontradas 1 y 2, a couple of CDs that contained unreleased and rare material from the '80s.
After the split of Los Rodríguez, Calamaro returned to his solo career recording Alta Suciedad in 1997, an album produced by Joe Blaney. This album brought him the commercial success that seemed to fail in his previous solo efforts, and sold 300.000 copies just in Argentina. That is certainly a huge amount for the country's small market. No doubts, that album helped him to be placed between the star legends of the national rock scene. Before that album Calamaro was considered an important character, appreciated by other musicians, but not a main one. After he broke up with his spanish girlfriend he released in 1999 the double CD Honestidad Brutal. Recorded when he was 37, it contained 37 songs of despair, love loss, drugs and regret. It was not as successful at the previous album, but showed a new Calamaro: desperate, decadent and often elegant at the same time, with a new and raw lyrical approach. El Salmon followed in spring 2001.
Calamaro's next proyect, El Cantante, was released in 2005. A delicious mixture of tango, rock n'roll and flamenco guitars (mostly played by spanish prodigy El Niño Josele).
After a break, he returned to the stages with a tour full of classics that gave birth to a live album called El Regreso on 2005, recorded with members of Bersuit Vergarabat as a backing band. This album was very well received for the charts as well as for the critics, wich lead him to different awards. One year later, on 2006, Andres published a new album from the roots of tango with the collaboration of guitarrists Niño Josele and Juanjo Dominguez. On 2007 El palacio de las flores was published, although it was recorded on 2006. The album had the collaboration and musical influence of argentine composer Lito Nebbia and was also recorded on his studio. This was the return to a classic Calamaro album with new songs and hits.
Reality Bomb
Andrés Calamaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
me toca el sur la loma del otro
Otro idioma con las mismas palabras
letras y significado... bueno:
Depende dónde estés parado! good shit, vivamos
Una cancha es familia
La alegría de un gol
¿ves la saña de la barra? Bravo! ¿brava? vivamos!
o peor que en cualquier parte
pero acá ni entre ellos la reparten
Cada tantos años salimos, vamos y votamos
O será que somos la pelota que rebota
Un médico aquí síganme
A dónde se me antoje
¿O sos un aburrido y se te nota?
En nuestro planeta no nos avivamos de nada
¿Será desprecio, será gilada?
vivamos...Será gilada
¿Colectivo? inventado
¿Dulce de leche? también
Idolos con pies de barro
Fanáticos que embarran
A quién supuestamente aman
Papeles que maldicen por igual
Cocaína y reforma laboral
Cocaína y reforma laboral
Vivamos! Show me your shit
Un amigo (que esta loco)
Dice que su papá
Que es piloto, tiró gente al río Dulce
Al río de la plata
Desde sus aviones a montones
Y hay una escuela en libertador
A quién se le ocurre inventar
Un militar, un torturador,
Un marino con honor
Ya estamos cerca de el
"Algo habrá hecho"
Me da lastima Lacaro pero
Hablaban algo raro
Ay país, pais, país
"Algo habrá hecho" al país
Te vi, te vi, te vi, tu porvenir al nacer! vivamos!! Ay país, ay país
Blow me, blow me, blow me, blow me, blow me, vivamos,show me your shit
"Aquí me pongo a cantar
Al compás de la vigüela,
Que el hombre que lo desvela
Una pena estraordinaria
Como la ave solitaria
Con el cantar se consuela" *
Vivamos! Everybody is gonna died
Purple haze...Vivamos!!!
Show me your shit
The lyrics of Reality Bomb by Andrés Calamaro are complex and touch on several socio-political themes. The opening lines "Vivo en un planeta dentro de otro, me toca el sur la loma del otro" can be interpreted as a reference to Argentina as a country that is a part of the South American continent. The song talks about living in a world where things are different depending on where one stands, and the need to live and enjoy life as it is, despite its imperfections.
The song goes on to talk about the contradictions in society, such as the joy of scoring a goal, versus the violence of the fans or the police's brutality. The lyrics touch on the country's political issues, with lines like "Cada tantos años salimos, vamos y votamos" (Every so often we go out, vote and come back), reflecting the pattern of Argentina's political history of tumultuous times, democratic and dictatorship regimes.
The song also talks about society's moral decay with references to drug abuse, corruption, and the society's acceptance of dubious behavior. The closing part of the song is a homage to famous Argentine Tango singer Carlos Gardel, who sang "Volver," a song that assured the comfort of returning to one's roots. Calamaro reiterates this sentiment that no matter how chaotic life may become, one must live, enjoy it and carry on.
Line by Line Meaning
Vivo en un planeta dentro de otro
I live on a planet inside another planet
me toca el sur la loma del otro
The southern hill of the other planet belongs to me
Otro idioma con las mismas palabras
Another language with the same words
letras y significado... bueno:
Letters and meaning... well,
Depende dónde estés parado! good shit, vivamos
It depends on where you stand! Good stuff, let's live
Una cancha es familia
A soccer field is family
La alegría de un gol
The joy of a goal
¿ves la saña de la barra? Bravo! ¿brava? vivamos!
Do you see the passion of the fans? Bravo! Let's live!
La yuta es igual
The cops are the same
o peor que en cualquier parte
Or worse elsewhere
pero acá ni entre ellos la reparten
But here they don't even share with each other
Cada tantos años salimos, vamos y votamos
Every few years we come out, we go and vote
O será que somos la pelota que rebota
Or maybe we're the ball that bounces
Un médico aquí síganme
A doctor here, follow me
A dónde se me antoje
Wherever I fancy
¿O sos un aburrido y se te nota?
Or are you boring and it shows?
En nuestro planeta no nos avivamos de nada
On our planet we don't catch onto anything
¿Será desprecio, será gilada?
Is it contempt, is it foolishness?
vivamos...Será gilada
Let's live... Perhaps it's foolishness
¿Colectivo? inventado
Bus? Invented
¿Dulce de leche? también
Dulce de leche? Also
Idolos con pies de barro
Idols with feet of clay
Fanáticos que embarran
Fans who muddy things up
A quién supuestamente aman
Whom they supposedly love
Papeles que maldicen por igual
Papers that curse equally
Cocaína y reforma laboral
Cocaine and labor reform
Vivamos! Show me your shit
Let's live! Show me your stuff
Un amigo (que esta loco)
A crazy friend
Dice que su papá
Says that his dad
Que es piloto, tiró gente al río Dulce
Who's a pilot, threw people into the Dulce river
Al río de la plata
Into the river Plate
Desde sus aviones a montones
From their planes by the dozens
Y hay una escuela en libertador
And there's a school in Libertador
A quién se le ocurre inventar
Who came up with the idea
Un militar, un torturador,
A military man, a torturer,
Un marino con honor
A sailor with honor
Ya estamos cerca de el
We're already close to it
"Algo habrá hecho"
"Something must have done"
Me da lastima Lacaro pero
I feel sorry for Lacaro but
Hablaban algo raro
They talked about something weird
Ay país, pais, país
Oh country, country, country
"Algo habrá hecho" al país
"Something must have done" to the country
Te vi, te vi, te vi, tu porvenir al nacer! vivamos!! Ay país, ay país
I saw you, I saw you, I saw you, your future when you were born! Let's live!! Oh country, oh country
Blow me, blow me, blow me, blow me, blow me, vivamos,show me your shit
Blow me, blow me, blow me, blow me, blow me, let's live, show me your stuff
"Aquí me pongo a cantar
"Here I start to sing
Al compás de la vigüela,
To the tune of the vihuela,
Que el hombre que lo desvela
That man who's kept awake
Una pena estraordinaria
An extraordinary pain
Como la ave solitaria
Like the solitary bird
Con el cantar se consuela" *
He consoles himself with singing" *
Vivamos! Everybody is gonna died
Let's live! Everybody is going to die
Purple haze...Vivamos!!! Show me your shit
Purple haze... Let's live!!! Show me your stuff
Contributed by Riley W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.