Chonqui – Bilingual Lyrics Spanish/English

• By: Willie Colón
• Album: El Malo

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the world of ‘Chonqui’ to master the nuanced, street-level Spanish slang used in 1970s New York City. This song is a perfect vehicle for learning rhythmic phrasing and urban idioms that are rarely found in traditional textbooks.

[English]

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

He spent a morning on the subway

Heading out to Rockaway

Hearing people laughing

He looked at his shoes and they were different

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

Poor Chonqui didn't know what to do

So he tried to hide his shoes

But that trick didn't work

And everyone pointed out his shoes

Chonqui killed himself

Chonqui killed himself

Chonqui killed himself

Chonqui killed himself

Chonqui killed himself

Chonqui killed himself

(Hey look, look man, Chonqui killed himself)

Chonqui killed himself

(Because of the critics, Chonqui killed himself)

Chonqui killed himself

(Oh look, come here, come here, Chonqui died)

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

(Oh poor, poor, poor Chonqui)

(Chonqui, but Chonqui killed himself)

Chonqui the crazy man killed himself

From the shame he felt

[Spanish]

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza que pasó

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza que pasó

Él pasó una mañana en el subway

En vienty de Rockaway

Oyendo la risa de la gente

Miró a sus zapatos y eran diferentes

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza que pasó

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza que pasó

Pobre chonqüi no supo qué hacer

Y sus zapatos trató de esconder

Ese truco no le trabajó

Y todo el mundo sus zapatos relajó

Chonqüi se mató

Chonqüi se mató

Chonqüi se mató

Chonqüi se mató

Chonqüi se mató

Chonqüi se mató

(E mira, mira pollo, Chonqüi se mató)

Chonqüi se mató

(Por culpa de los criticones, Chonqüi se mató)

Chonqüi se mató

(Ay mira, ven y ven y ven y ven Chonqüi se murió)

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza que pasó

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza que pasó

(Ay pobre, pobre, pobre Chonqüi)

(Chonqüi pero Chonqüi se mató)

Chonqüi el loco se mató

Por la vergüenza qué pasó

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
Loco lo-ko A2	adjective - crazy, insane
Mató ma-to A2	verb - killed
Vergüenza ber-gwen-sa B1	noun - shame, embarrassment
Mañana ma-nya-na A1	noun - morning
Subway sub-way A2	noun - underground train
Oyendo o-yen-do A2	verb - hearing/listening
Risa ri-sa A2	noun - laughter
Gente hen-te A1	noun - people
Zapatos sa-pa-tos A1	noun - shoes
Diferentes di-fe-ren-tes A1	adjective - different
Pobre po-bre A1	adjective - poor
Esconder es-kon-der A2	verb - to hide
Truco tru-ko B1	noun - trick
Relajó re-la-ho B1	verb - laughed at / ridiculed (slang usage)
Criticones kri-ti-ko-nes C1	noun - critics (often negative/nosy)

Key Grammar Structures

• Chonqüi el loco se mató

  ➔ Reflexive verb (Preterite)

  ➔ "Se mató" uses the reflexive pronoun 'se' indicating an action performed on oneself, in the preterite tense.

• Por la vergüenza que pasó

  ➔ Relative clause with 'que'

  ➔ The word "que" acts as a relative pronoun connecting 'vergüenza' to the action that caused it.

• Miró a sus zapatos y eran diferentes

  ➔ Imperfect tense for description

  ➔ "Eran" (from ser) is in the imperfect tense to describe the state of the shoes in the past.

• No supo qué hacer

  ➔ Interrogative pronoun in indirect question

  ➔ The structure "qué hacer" functions as an indirect question using the interrogative pronoun 'qué'.

• Sus zapatos trató de esconder

  ➔ Periphrastic construction (Tratar de + infinitive)

  ➔ "Trató de" followed by the infinitive 'esconder' indicates an attempt to perform an action.

• Todo el mundo sus zapatos relajó

  ➔ Direct Object pronoun/noun placement

  ➔ In Spanish, the direct object 'sus zapatos' is placed before the verb for emphasis or poetic effect in lyrics.

• Por culpa de los criticones

  ➔ Complex prepositional phrase

  ➔ "Por culpa de" is a common prepositional phrase meaning 'because of the fault of'.

• Ven y ven y ven y ven

  ➔ Imperative mood (Tú command)

  ➔ "Ven" is the irregular imperative form of 'venir' (to come) for the second person singular 'tú'.