| Shakira – Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This song is about parents' expectations for their children. Every parent wants their child to be successful - but what is success? The last three stanzas describe many of the expectations that parents put on their children for them to live a "successful life". These aren't metaphors, just descriptions. They have to have proper manners, do their homework, go to college, get married before they're too old, have their own children and pass on these expectations. However, not all people have or can achieve this dream, which is what the chorus is about You belonged to an ancient race - What was the case for you may not be the case for people in the present. You had bare feet and white dreams - You had to work hard to achieve their happiness, and your effort won't be denied by others. Dust you were, dust you are - Don't try to force others to live how you lived. You may be older, but if you didn't change with the times you're probably not wiser. Think that iron is always soft before heat - Even if you make your children live how you want, you can't change their inner thoughts. If they don't want to live how you want them to, they will rebel in time. The second stanza sets up the reasons parents try to force their view onto their children. You bit the apple and renounced paradise - You set your eyes on one goal that you thought was right, regardless of whether or not it brought you happiness. And condemned a snake being yourself who wanted it thus - Parents rarely take blame for their children misbehaving. They can't understand it, or they blame their teachers, blame the TV, blame videogames - anything other than themselves. For millenia and millenia you remained nude - You refuse to change your goals and opinions. And faced dinosaurs under a roof and without a shield - You fought bravely for your goals, ignoring that your approach may not be the best. The 5th stanza is about how children feel about their parents crazy expectations. You built an exact world with perfect endings - There's no gray areas. People's instructions for their kids too often are "do this, don't to that." There's often no whys, no alternatives. Everything calculated in its space and time - Once again, proper manners are expected to be followed to the letter. You should feel about things this way, you should do this at this time, etc. Me, being a total chaos, the entries, the exits The names, and the measures don't fit inside my brain - It's crazy to expect a child to learn all this and follow it to the letter. Kids should be allowed to make mistakes. So altogether the song is renouncing parents' excessive expectations of their children, and telling them to allow their kids to have a childhood. |
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