In this episode we explore the song Así no se vive bien by Los Ronaldos, one of the most loved rock bands that came out of Spain in the 80’s. Their vocalist Coque Malla is still going strong today as a solo artist. In 2021 he released Soy un astronauta gigante (I am a giant astronaut), a 5-disc compilation spanning his whole career both with Los Ronaldos and solo.

The narrator in our song is a Bowie-esque shape-shifter who sings away a seemingly perpetual sense of aloofness, detachment and, ultimately, dissatisfaction. Hence the title: Así no se vive bien (this is no good way to live).

Through our usual line-by-line translation we will learn that the passive reflexive tense doesn’t really care about its subjects and that you can stick a Spanish personal pronoun after both a gerund and an infinitive, among some other things that will keep your language juices flowing.