By Mike Sain't Louis ·
El anillo de casado: five pints and a discreet love
Five pints at Cien Montaditos. With that very specific detail, so Thursday-evening-in-Madrid, El anillo de casado (The Wedding Ring) begins, and from there everything goes downhill, pleasantly tipsy.
The scene feels very familiar to me. Two men amid laughter and glances, nicely hidden away, toasting to life. The narrator is a bit merry and says it plainly: he fancies taking the other one to bed and having him take off the ring. The problem, of course, is that ring.
In church and with four hundred guests
The chorus has an almost pasodoble tone, celebrating this man who got married in church, who shows off his ring and who, according to the lyrics, is more in love every day. And just when it seems like a tribute to married life, the punchline arrives: «Si pasa por mi cama y lo disfruto para mí es pasado» (If he passes through my bed and I enjoy it, for me it's the past). I love that way of taking the weight off what in another song would be a soap-opera tragedy.
But the lyrics don't stop at the joke. In the bridge, the real doubt appears: and what am I going to do? He's very happy with him and is starting to fall in love, trapped a little more each day by his supposed heterosexuality. That "supposed" says it all, and it's one of the words I most enjoy saying out loud at home.
And then comes the contrast that, for me, is the heart of the song. He married his wife in pure white with four hundred guests. And the two of them, meanwhile, go round Madrid discreetly, looking for guesthouses that don't have the "no vacancies" sign hanging on the intercom. That image of the sign makes me laugh and makes me a little sad at the same time.
It's a song with a lot of classic copla in it: loves that can't be told, rings that get in the way, the city as an accomplice. Only here the protagonists are two men and the setting is a chain of beer bars.
I'd dedicate it to you if you were ever someone's secret. Put it on with the second pint, never with the first.
The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify
Lyrics · EL ANILLO DE CASADO
Nos tomamos CINCO jarras en los cien montaditosEntre risas y miradas, bien escondiditosHoy estoy contentillo, estoy con el puntilloMe apetece tenerte en la cama y que te quites el anillo
Lleva El anillo de casado,por siempre enamoradoY por la iglesia ha pasado,ya luce el anillo de casadoCada día mas enamoradodesde que lleva el anillo de casadoDe casado , el anillo de casadoSi pasa por mi cama y lo disfruto para mí es pasado
Nos tomamos cinco jarras en los cien montaditosY brindamos por la vida, sonriendo tan bonitosHoy estoy contentillo, estoy con el puntilloMe apetece tenerte en la cama y que te quites el anillo
Lleva El anillo de casado,por siempre enamoradoY por la iglesia ha pasado,ya luce el anillo de casadoCada día mas enamoradodesde que lleva el anillo de casadoDe casado , el anillo de casadoSi pasa por mi cama y lo disfruto para mí es pasado
¿Y qué voy a hacer? No lo séCon él estoy tan bien¿Y qué voy a hacer? No lo séMe estoy empezando a enamorar de él¿Y qué voy a hacer? Si me atrapacada día un poco más, su supuestaheterosexualidad.Y por lo iglesia se ha casado, con su mujer de blanco puro y cuatrocientos invitadosY nosotros por Madrid de discretos buscando hostales que no tengan colgado en el telefonillo el cartel decompletos
Lleva El anillo de casado,por siempre enamoradoY por la iglesia ha pasado,ya luce el anillo de casadoCada día mas enamoradodesde que lleva el anillo de casadoDe casado , el anillo de casadoSi pasa por mi cama y lo disfruto para mí es pasado
Lyrics as published with the official music video, on the MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS label.