Tonino Carotone was born in Burgos, Spain. The majority of his childhood an… Read Full Bio ↴Tonino Carotone was born in Burgos, Spain. The majority of his childhood and adolescence were spent in Pamplona, a city famous for bullfighting. This perhaps explains the explosive temperament of this eccentric artist.

His real name is Antonio de la Cuesta and he started playing music in the 80's, when he participated in three different punk bands: Cagando Duro (The Hard Shit), Tijuana in Blue and Kojon Prieto y Los Huajolotes. The last one quickly became famous all over Spain, as they were playing covers of artists such as Al Bano and Raffaella Carra. Through one of their fantastic live appearances they drew the attention of Manu Chao, former leader of Mano Negra.

A few years later, in 2000, he would be the producer in Carotone's first solo album: “E Un Mondo Difficile”. The name that he now uses is a paraphrase of the Italian Carosone, in honour of an eminent Italian singer of the 50's, Renato Carosone (his big hit is “Tu Vuò Fà L'americano”).

His music combines punk with elements from Spanish, Italian, French, even Mexican popular music. It resembles the band Negresses Vertes and the solo works of Manu Chao, while a lot of critics are placing his music somewhere between Adriano Celentano and Tom Waits. The lyrics of his songs are often amusing, ironic or even surreal.

No Funciona
Tonino Carotone Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴

Siempre hago mal
cuando quiero hacer bien
y me rega

Overall Meaning

ñan todos
todas las veces que
quiero decir sí
acabo diciendo no
y me regañan todos

No funciona mi cerebro
no funciona mi razón
no funciona nada bien
en mi corazón

Estas letras tratan sobre la dificultad del protagonista para hacer las cosas bien. En lugar de tomar decisiones correctas, el personaje siempre elige mal y se gana el desprecio de los demás. Sus problemas parecen ser de origen interno, lo que sugiere que están más relacionados con su psicología que con factores externos.

El coro de la canción, que es repetición de la frase "no funciona", le da al oyente un sentido de los problemas del personaje en su conjunto. La letra sugiere que el protagonista sabe que algo está mal y no puede arreglarlo, lo cual es una especie de frustración existencial. La canción se convierte en un llamado a la empatía del oyente, ya que le recuerda que todos luchan por encontrar su lugar en el mundo, y que no siempre es fácil.

Writer(s): ANTONIO DE LA CUESTA MANRIQUE, ARTURO SORIANO SANCHEZ

Contributed by Aiden N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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