By Mike Sain't Louis ·
Una obra de teatro: seven years on a stage
Seven years on a stage. That's how this lyric sums up a relationship that, seen with hindsight, seems to have been a performance rehearsed down to the millimetre. Una obra de teatro (A Play) opens with a question full of disbelief: you're telling me it was all a play.
What strikes me most about the song is the detail of the tears. He didn't cry. And the few times he did, the lyrics say it plainly, he faked it. That «por eso él no lloraba» (that's why he didn't cry) is repeated like someone finally fitting the last piece of a puzzle. It's the moment you understand something that was right in front of you and you didn't want to see because, as the song says, everyone is their own world and you don't judge.
The madman of the show
There's another idea that seems very harsh and very real to me: I'm trapped, I'm the madman you need to be careful of. When you get out of a relationship like that, on top of everything you have to explain the torment to others, and very often you end up looking like the unhinged one. The audience applauded the actor and the one left without a script was you.
The ending, however, changes tone. The lyrics confess something I find very generous: that it's even sad to have wanted to help him. But it's confirmed, it's over and done with, there's no fixing him. And then comes the line I keep: «al menos sálvate tú» (at least save yourself). It's advice the song gives itself and that works for anyone.
It's a short song, almost a monologue, and the repetition of the first part gives it something obsessive, of going round and round the same thing, which is exactly what happens in your head when you realise something like that.
I'd dedicate it to anyone leaving the theatre with the programme still in their pocket, wondering how many scenes were real. And I'd put it on when you need permission to stop trying to save someone. Bring down the curtain, turn on the house lights and go home. You had no part in that play.
The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify
Lyrics · UNA OBRA DE TEATRO
Me estás diciendo que todoEra UnaObra de teatro?Siete años en un escenario?No puede ser ciertoComo voy a explicar encima yoEste tormento? Estoy atrapado, soy el loco del que hay que tener cuidado. Por eso él no lloraba. y las pocas veces que lo harías,algo raro había , pero como cada persona es un mundo dijeyo no juzgoPor eso él no lloraba.Me estás diciendo que todoEraUnaObra de teatro?Siete años en un escenario?No puede ser ciertoComo voy a explicar encima yoEste tormento? Estoy atrapado, soy el loco del que hay que tener cuidado. Por eso él no lloraba. y las pocas veces que lo hacía lo fingía.algo raro había , pero como cada persona es un mundo dijeyo no juzgoPor eso él no lloraba.
Y lo peor de todo es que siento hasta pena por querer ayudarle a élpero está confirmadoesto está finiquitadolo suyo no tiene soluciónal menos sálvate tú
Lyrics as published with the official music video, on the MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS label.