Qué Onda Guero Lyrics
in the vegetable van
with the horn that's
honking like a mariachi band
in the midle of the street people
gather around put a dollar in the can
ay wey, qué onda?
tj cowboys hang around
sleeping on the side walk
with a burger king crown
never wake them up
vatos vergallos qué onda guero?
qué onda quero? mano blancos roll with crowbars sing rancheras on cheap guitars
abuelitas with plastic bags
walking to church with their spanish candles dirty
boracho says 'qué putas? andelay joto your popsicles melting' run better run
da doo run run
in the midnight sun guero where you going qué onda gureo? rampart boys with
loaded rifles guatemalan soccer ball
instant replays mango ladies vendedoras
at a bus stop sing a banda macho chorus
qué onda guero? a donde vayas?
I think Que Unda Guero is supposed to mean "Where are you going, white boy?"
it means something like "Wazzup blond boy?"
it means something like "Wazzup blond boy?"
Well, a couple of things. Guero does not exactly mean "white boy". It is a term reserved for Mexican - actual white boys are never called gueros. A guero is a light-skinned Mexican, so if you are being called a guero in a Mexican neighborhood, it is actually inclusive, meaning that you are accepted in the neighborhood. So the character in the song (Beck?) is so familiar that, although he is not, he is accepted as a "white Mexican". This doesn't however, mean that he is liked, just that he is there.
More importantly, que onda does NOT mean "where are you going?" it means "what is happening?" or "what is going on?"
This is a great LA song, and makes me yearn for my years in the Echo and Boyle Heights. It's perfect.
"dirty boracho says 'qué putas? andelay joto your popsicles melting'"
i found this line really funny, because it's a lot dirtier than most of beck's songs. the spanish translates as "what, bi****s? hurry up, (gay), your popsicle's melting." of course the popsicle's a phallic symbol. i'm not quite sure what it's got to do with the song, but it provides a nice antithesis for the 'little grandmas' in churches. maybe it's just another facet of life in this neighborhood that beck is describing in the song?
Let's go to Captain Cork, they got the new Yanni cassette...
dances It's like an entire Mexican street festival compressed into under 4 minutes.
I heard "Guero" meant "white homie." Hm...I might be wrong though. But I made a t-shirt that says "'Que Onda Guero?' - Beck" Pretty damn funny, if you ask me.
Yani cassette. ha ha ha!
In response to Ales321...
- No
- Yes, Que Pasa is 'What's happening.' Literally anyway. However, different phrases have different meanings. Just like english, every language has slang and phrasing differences, and these change all the time for laguages not considered dead. For instance. If I told you "I was moved," that could mean changing residences or that I was picked up and carried somewhere. It could also mean a departmental change in your job, as well as a way to describe a strong emotional feeling in response to an event or other stimuli. All of these things are very different from each other in nearly every way. The point being that because you've taken a year or two of Spanish in school, you can't yet know much about word and phrase meanings that only are understood after speaking the language and living in the culture for a great length of time. :) Anyway, enough of my silly soapbox...
I think the song is excellent and way too fun :) It sounds as though beck is using his words to make a picture like he so often does.... Walking through LA seeing all the people and situations that he describes using english and spanish lyrics to describe actions/reactions and perceptions. The song feels warm and fun. Like walking through a neighborhood where, though from outsider's glance may seem odd for you to be in, feels like home to you...
captain1356 is dead on -- thanks for taking a stand on THINKING.
and by the way, even without SPanish knowledge, people should be able to tell what que onda means by the intonation and the context of the rest of the song) re vatos vergallos -- I think it's vatos (dudes) VER (see) gallos (roosters) If I'm right, that would mean either dudes being so drunk they're seeing roosters OR dudes drinking all night until the roosters start up, as referenced by till the rooster crows, mas cerveza..
haha i lovee this song..
i soo understand cause i live around the neighborhood .. deep streets of LA..
"aya en la pico y vermont"
"im taking a ceramic class at LACC"
LACC= los angeles community college..
but anyways love it..
correction as some ppl keep saying que onda means "whats going on, what's happening"
like "what's the mood" i guess
haha
si hablo espanol :]