Pau Donés, born and raised in Barcelona, worked for various groups before being able to take on his current project, Jarabe de Palo. He began at age 15 with his brother Marc, with whom he formed a group known as J.& Co.Band and later another one named Dentaduras Postizas. During this period, he completed his musical tracks in Barcelona with a job at an advertising firm.
His greatest success came to him after a trip to Cuba, where he was inspired to write La Flaca which became the title of his first album, "La Flaca," in 1996. A year later came the big surprise: millions of albums were sold around the world, and "La Flaca" became the song of the summer in 1997.
After this great success on his first album, Pau was determined to show that the band would not be a one-hit wonder, and with this idea, he launched Depende (1998), which was produced by Joe Dworniak in Moody Studios in London over two months. This album featured collaborations with the likes of Ketama and continued with Jarabe de Palo's ironic and ingenious lyrics, which managed to connect with the Hispanic public and even made inroads among Italians.
In 2001 they released De vuelta y vuelta, their most conceptual album. It showed a change in the band with the first music video of the album, in which Pau appears shaving his head, shedding his long-haired features. This album featured collaborations with the likes of Antonio Vega, Jovanotti, Vico C, and Celia Cruz.
In 2003 the band tried to show a change to more positive songs with their album Bonito, which featured the likes of Los Mártires del Compás, the singer-songwriter Elena Andujar, and their Italian friend, Jovanotti.
In the autumn of 2004, the band announced that they would go on tour with their new album, 1 m2 (Un metro cuadrado (A Square Meter)) featuring the likes of Jorge Drexler, Lucrecia, and Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders).
The group has received great awards such as Premios de la Música, Premio Ondas, and Grammy nominations. They have collaborated with La Vieja Trova Santiaguera, Antonio Vega, Vico C and Celia Cruz (soundtrack of El milagro de P. Tinto). Pau has also composed tracks for Ricky Martin and starred in a music video with Alanis Morissette.
On 9 June 2020, Donés died near Barcelona after five years of dealing with colon cancer, causing the band to split up shortly after.
De Los Libros
Jarabe de Palo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
De las historias que contienen
De lo que se lee entre líneas
De sus palabras mudas
De los libros no se aprende
Sobre verdades a medias
De pensamientos escritos
Hay ciertas cosas
Que nunca se aprenden
Que de pronto aparecen
Sin saber por qué
Hay ciertas cosas
Que en los libros no vienen
De pronto aparecen
Pero que hay que saber
De los libros se aprende
De páginas en blanco y negro
De tinta sobre papel
De palabras bien ordenadas
Pensé en escribir un libro
De mi versión sobre las cosas
Que vi escritas en un libro
Que otro ciego escribió
No hace falta ser un sabio
Para escribir un libro
The lyrics to Jarabe de Palo's song "De Los Libros" reflect on the idea that true wisdom and knowledge cannot be obtained simply by reading books. The opening lines assert that "one does not learn from books," rather one learns from the stories they contain, the messages that are implicit, and the subtle language that lies between the lines. The song suggests that books may contain "half-truths" and simply represent the ideas that were once thought by someone else.
However, the song does posit that there are certain things one simply cannot learn from books. These are the aspects of life that suddenly appear without explanation, but one must still learn to understand. The song suggests that one can learn just as much from a blank piece of paper as from a book- that true wisdom can come from one's own experiences rather than from the ideas of others.
The second verse introduces the idea that, despite the limitations of books, they can still provide valuable knowledge. The verse suggests that one can learn from the black-and-white pages of books, from the ink on the pages, and from the carefully-ordered words. The final lines of the song suggest that the singer has considered writing their own book, but ultimately concludes that "one does not have to be a wise person to write a book." This seems to tie back to the song's central theme- that true knowledge comes from experience, and wisdom may be found within oneself, rather than within the pages of a book.
Line by Line Meaning
De los libros no se aprende
Learning doesn't come solely from books
De las historias que contienen
It comes from the stories that they hold
De lo que se lee entre líneas
It comes from what is read between the lines
De sus palabras mudas
It comes from the silent words on the page
Sobre verdades a medias
These books contain half-truths
De pensamientos escritos
They have written thoughts
Sobre ideas que alguien tuvo, pero
About ideas someone had, but
Hay ciertas cosas
There are certain things
Que nunca se aprenden
That can never be learned
Que de pronto aparecen
That suddenly appear
Sin saber por qué
Without knowing why
Que en los libros no vienen
That aren't found in books
Pero que hay que saber
But they still need to be understood
De los libros se aprende
One can still learn from books
De páginas en blanco y negro
From black and white pages
De tinta sobre papel
From ink on paper
De palabras bien ordenadas
From well-ordered words
Pensé en escribir un libro
I thought about writing a book
De mi versión sobre las cosas
About my own take on things
Que vi escritas en un libro
That I read in another book
Que otro ciego escribió
Written by another blind person
No hace falta ser un sabio
You don't need to be a genius
Para escribir un libro
To write a book
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JORGE DANTART MINUE, PAU DONES CIRERA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind