It’s Thursday once again which means the weekend is right around the corner. But, that also means that the end of Summer is here. Since it’s Labor Day weekend, I figured we’d talk about Joaquin Sabina and his 1992 song “Y Nos Dieron Las Diez”.
Joaquin Sabina
Joaquin Sabina was born in Jaen, Andalusia, Spain in 1949. He began his musical career at the age of 14, writing poetry and learning how to compose music. As he went off to college, Sabina became interested in revolutionary ideology. Becoming increasingly opposed to the Francisco Franco of Spain, Sabina participated in a number of anti-Franco protests. During one of those protests, Sabina threw a Molotov cocktail at a government building causing an arrest warrant to be put out for him.
Sabina forged a passport and exiled himself to England. While in England he continued his musical career, even running into George Harrison of The Beatles at one point. After the death of Franco and modernization of Spain, Sabina returned to his home country and continued his career. His biggest hits came in the 80s with his biggest smash hit coming in 1992.
Y Nos Dieron Las Diez
“Y Nos Dieron Las Diez” is a perfect track to close the summer on. In typical Sabina fashion, this track is poetic and a story. The lyrics are fantastic and you should read them but I’ll summarize it for you here. “Y Nos Dieron Las Diez” tells the story of singer who goes to a bar after a show. While at the bar, he meets a woman and quickly falls in love. They go home together but depart in the morning. The summer ends, the seasons roll on and then summer comes around again. The singer returns to the same town and looks for the girl. Where the bar once was is now a bank. Unable to find the girl, the singer smashes a window at the bank, is taken to jail, and begins to write this song.
This song is a lot of fun to listen to alone but I would love to experience it in a crowd. Singing the chorus in a huge crowd is a absolute goal of mine.
From 1992, “Y Nos Dieron Las Diez”
Bonus – the 2021 Juanes version that is one of my favorite songs of the year.