#11-m

JUEVES - LA OREJA DE VAN GOGH

So, we come back to these posts with one of my favourite songs of all time (it is indeed my favourite song in Spanish at the moment). I wanted to introduce you to La Oreja de Van Gogh from a while now, because it’s one of the most iconic, influential and just plain good Spanish groups there are, and it had to be with this song. It’s not their most famous, and I’ll be talking about them in following posts, but you needed to listen to this song, also one of the most heartbreaking songs ever.

So, first of all, to understand this song I have to first talk about its context. This song is about the terrorist attacks of 11-M, our 9 / 11. I already made a post about the attacks and the song a while ago, when I had a mini-meltdown and just started crying thinking about them, but here is like a mini-recap of what happened.

At about 7:30 a.m., March 11th 2004, four bombs previously hidden in four trains of Madrid, around the station of Atocha, one of the most important stations of the city, exploded.

At first, the authorities thought the attack was perpetrated by the former terrorist group ETA, based in the Basque Country, but later that day a tape was found inside a bin with a video of ISIS claiming the attack.

There were a total of 193 deaths, making it the second most deadly terrorist attack in Europe ever.

The last three deaths were of a policeman who tried defusing a bomb in the base of the terrorists in the city of Leganés, south of Madrid, a baby born of a woman who survived the attack but somehow damaged the fetus (he only lived 48 h), and a woman who spent 10 years on a coma, and died in 2014.

The melt-down started when I dug up some more precise information of the attacks, and discovered that 2 trains were heading towards my University. They were exactly the same trains I get in everyday. And virtually everybody in my class passes through Atocha everyday on their way to University. So probably there were students, maybe even of my same faculty building, amongst the victims. Also, Leganés is where one of my best friends from University lives, and lived during the attacks. Who knows what could had happen to her? I guess it was just the implications that someone I knew could’ve have died there, even myself if I had been born before, that really fucked me up. Here are some photos of the accident (the trains are still the same I take everyday)

And here some photos of the monument that was built in Atocha station after the attack:

If you want more info, here is the English Wikipedia page (if you understand Spanish I advise you read it in that language better)

And here is a list of all the victims.

Before the cut, just wanna say that in the Music Video for this song all the people that appear are either survivors or family of the victims.

11-M

I’ll never forget the time when I had chickenpox. It was 15 years ago, I was watching tv at night with my family and my skin felt very itchy..and then we knew it was chickenpox (my sister had it a week before that)

Why I’m telling you this? Because 15 years ago I didn’t went to high school and didn’t see all the chaos. And I’m very thankful for that.

My high school was between the train stations El Pozo and Santa Eugenia and many students from different neighborhoods around came to study there, but that morning not everybody arrived.

That morning my aunt, grandpa and many others called us while I was still in bed, my mom had not a clue why all of them were calling and asking if my sister and I were ok, if nothing happened to us. That’s when my mom and I turned on the tv and saw it. Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia stations were bombed at 7:00 / 8:30 AM. When everybody took the train to go to work or to school. We had the worst terrorist attack in Spain and Europe’s history that morning, March 11th 2004. 11-M.

That’s why I’ll never forget that 15 years ago I had chickenpox, that I was at home when almost 200 persons were killed, that I didn’t see the anguish in my teachers and fellow students’ eyes (but my sister did and told me that some were crying and wanting to go home).

At that time I used to take the train 2 times a week and after the bombings and I tried to be strong, but I felt sick everytime I stepped into one. You know how I felt when I stopped in 2 of those 3 stations? I can’t describe it. Atocha is the central station that connects every line and is always full of people…it was full of people that morning and I can’t erase the images of those terrible bombings…

That’s my story, and I’m glad that I’m able to write about it, because 192 persons can’t.

In remembrance

One of many impromptu memorials that appeared in the days after the terrorist bombings at Atocha Station (of March 11, 2004).

De todas las chicas, la más bonita; ella era especial, era algo distinta. Armado en valor crucé el vagón y llegó mi parada.

Me siento en frente y ni te imaginas que solo con ver esa falda tan bonita escogería este tren, por verte otra vez; tú alegras mis días.

De pronto te miro, y suspiro si miras. Cierras los ojos, yo aparto la vista. El corazón encoge, las piernas tiritan; y me pongo a temblar.

Y así pasan los días, de lunes a viernes, como las madreselvas del poema de Bécquer; de estación a estación, enfrente tú y yo, va y viene el silencio.

De pronto te miro, y suspiro si miras. Cierras los ojos, yo aparto la vista. El corazón encoge, las piernas tiritan; y me pongo a temblar.

El tiempo se para, no estás en tu sitio; por ser un cobarde, sé que te he perdido. Desde atrás te siento, qué tonto he sido; me quiero morir.

Y entonces ocurre, despierta el tiempo. “Yo no te conozco y ya te echaba de menos. Cada mañana rechazo el directo y elijo este tren”.

Ya estamos llegando, mi vida a cambiado; un día especial, este once de marzo. Te tomo la mano, llegamos a un túnel que apaga la luz.

Te busco a tientas, me encuentran tus manos. Me besas en los labios, confieso que te amo. Siento en tu aliento un sabor amargo. Cierro los ojos, me dejo morir.

I have to talk about this song, because I have listened and loved it for a long time (in fact is my favourite song of the band) but just today I learned its true meaning. And I think the world needs to know It too.

This song is about 11-M. I encourage you to search for it, but basically it was like the Spanish 9/11. On March 11, 2008, a train in Atocha station (Madrid) suffered an islamic terrorist attack.

Amongst what was left of the train, they discovered a diary of a girl that had found love that day on that train, just before her life was taken away. This song, "Jueves" (which means "Thursday", the day of the attack) tells the story of that girl.

About the music video, everyone that appears on it is either a survivor or a relative of a victim of the attack.

I've traslated the lyrics below, please feel free to correct me, as English is not my first language. Hope you enjoy It!

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If I were prettier and a bit smarter,

If I were special, if I were on a magazine,

I would have the courage to cross the carriage and to ask you who you were.

You sit in front of me, and you can't even imagine

That I'm wearing my prettiest skirt for you,

And that as I see how you yawn by the glass [of the window]

My pupils get wet.

CHORUS:

Suddenly you look at me,

I look at you and you sigh.

I close my eyes and you look the other way

I am nearly not breathing,

I become smaller,

And I start shaking.

And like that the days pass

From Monday to Friday

Like the swallows of Bécquer's poem.

Station to station, in front of each other you and me

Silence comes and goes.

CHORUS

And then it happens,

My lips awake

And pronounce your name stuttering.

I suppose you are thinking:

"What a stupid girl".

And I want to die.

But time stops

And you come closer saying:

"I don't even know you and I was already missing you.

Every morning I turn down the direct [train]

And I choose this train".

And we are near the station,

My life has changed,

A special day this March 11th.

You take my hand

We enter a tunnel

And lights turn off.

I discover your face thanks to my hands,

I become brave and I kiss you in the lips.

You say that you love me,

And I gift you with