Fix what’s wrong, but don’t rewrite what the artist wrote. Stick to the official released version — album booklet, label site, verified lyric video, etc. If you’re guessing, pause and double-check.
Respect the structure
Songs have rhythm. Pages do too. Leave line breaks where they belong. Don’t smash things together or add extra empty space just for looks.
Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)
Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.
Don’t mix versions
If you’re editing the explicit version, keep it explicit. If it’s the clean version, keep it clean. No mashups.
Let the lyrics be lyrics
This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.
Edit lightly
If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’
When in doubt, ask the crowd
Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.
When Manu talks about Babylon, he refers to the rastafarian belief of this name. They believa Babylon is a nation that will try to take over the world, in other words, Manu means the United States (or any other developed/imperialistic country). Inmigrants get on-route to "Babylon" searching for a better life after "henger" comes and they leave.
Yeah, you're absolutely right, he definitely sings "hambre"...but the text-book of "clandestino" says "hombre" at this point, so many web-sites copied the lyrics with "hombre" twice...
anyway, great song! especially the live-version...does anyone here understand what bidji is singing there? all i understand is "...and i never loose track".
well, if we look at "clandestino" the first track is the introduction to the story, a life of an immigrant. and this being the last track, it's the conclusion to the story, "hunger comes, man leaves" just like in many contries, people leave their country looking for a better place.
yeah, Five, i was thinking the same thing, i was thinking it was about immigrants, hunger coming so they leave for the border to find a better life. luck comes, luck goes, but the immigrants must go. but again, what does he mean by la ruta babylon?
Illegal immigrants cross the border like the wind; their entries come and go as silently as the wind
The need to feed one's self and one's family is the primary impetus to travel from one's homeland to Babylon be it the U.S. (for Mexicans and Central Americans) or France (for Algerians and other French-speaking countries in Africa - irony there, no? The fact that some Africans speak French suggests that the French once entered without documentation into a foreign country. But their travels were not illegal - they were exploratory because the powerful get to define the context - but colonialism nevertheless produced the conditions of the present.)
Sometimes you get lucky when crossing the border. You survive - make a living - send money home. Other times you do not. There are many bones in the desert in the U.S.side of the Mexican border (read Dead in Their Track for this account or watch the DVD Mojados to get a glimpse of the process and trajedy). There are many who drown in the sea (Africans).
"El hambre viene. El hombre se va. Cuando volvera. Por la carretera" People are left behind when someone decides to leave. Mothers. Grandfathers. Grandmothers. Wives. Children. Their loved one disappears into the wind and when, they must wonder, will they return? What if they die in route and they become the nameless victims of our social and economic policies - will we ever know that they perished? Will we ever know if they made it? Thousands of people disappear into the wind. And those that stay behind to see the person they love walk away for their economic benefit - eventually all they see is empty space and the sound of the wind, which is what we hear at the end of this track.
Only the wind.
Fingers crossed.
Hope in their throats.
But for many, they will never know what became of their loved ones, family, and kin. All they know is that they left por la careterra.
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There seems to be some errors in this text.... it is: "el hambre viene el hombre se va" not : el hombre viene el hombre se va
The meanings is quite another when the hunger is coming and the man is leaving....? do you not agree?
When Manu talks about Babylon, he refers to the rastafarian belief of this name. They believa Babylon is a nation that will try to take over the world, in other words, Manu means the United States (or any other developed/imperialistic country). Inmigrants get on-route to "Babylon" searching for a better life after "henger" comes and they leave.
to me theres another error in this text:
la Muerte viene, la suerte se va
a wonderful song. its about the lonelyness, about mallegria, about loughing and crying- just like beeing a candle in the wind
Yeah, you're absolutely right, he definitely sings "hambre"...but the text-book of "clandestino" says "hombre" at this point, so many web-sites copied the lyrics with "hombre" twice...
anyway, great song! especially the live-version...does anyone here understand what bidji is singing there? all i understand is "...and i never loose track".
well, if we look at "clandestino" the first track is the introduction to the story, a life of an immigrant. and this being the last track, it's the conclusion to the story, "hunger comes, man leaves" just like in many contries, people leave their country looking for a better place.
yeah, Five, i was thinking the same thing, i was thinking it was about immigrants, hunger coming so they leave for the border to find a better life. luck comes, luck goes, but the immigrants must go. but again, what does he mean by la ruta babylon?
Illegal immigrants cross the border like the wind; their entries come and go as silently as the wind The need to feed one's self and one's family is the primary impetus to travel from one's homeland to Babylon be it the U.S. (for Mexicans and Central Americans) or France (for Algerians and other French-speaking countries in Africa - irony there, no? The fact that some Africans speak French suggests that the French once entered without documentation into a foreign country. But their travels were not illegal - they were exploratory because the powerful get to define the context - but colonialism nevertheless produced the conditions of the present.)
Sometimes you get lucky when crossing the border. You survive - make a living - send money home. Other times you do not. There are many bones in the desert in the U.S.side of the Mexican border (read Dead in Their Track for this account or watch the DVD Mojados to get a glimpse of the process and trajedy). There are many who drown in the sea (Africans).
"El hambre viene. El hombre se va. Cuando volvera. Por la carretera" People are left behind when someone decides to leave. Mothers. Grandfathers. Grandmothers. Wives. Children. Their loved one disappears into the wind and when, they must wonder, will they return? What if they die in route and they become the nameless victims of our social and economic policies - will we ever know that they perished? Will we ever know if they made it? Thousands of people disappear into the wind. And those that stay behind to see the person they love walk away for their economic benefit - eventually all they see is empty space and the sound of the wind, which is what we hear at the end of this track.
Only the wind.
Fingers crossed.
Hope in their throats.
But for many, they will never know what became of their loved ones, family, and kin. All they know is that they left por la careterra.
razon => razón volvera => volverá