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Jul 20, 2008 - 5:33PM

My favourite Spanish song of 1985: Radio Futura’s "Han caído los dos"

Radio Futura (Future Radio) was, no doubt, the best Spanish rock band ever. Commanded by the philosopher Santiago Auserón, they played a pivotal part of the “Movida” sound with their first album, “Música moderna” (“Modern Music”, 1980), a hedonist and colourful work that suffered of an erroneous management promotion, selling them as teenage stars. After a long period with problems with the record company they reinvented themselves as an art-rock band with a cold-funk sound Talking Heads-style, releasing in 1984 their most acclaimed album, the conceptual “La ley del desierto / La ley del mar” (“The Law of the Desert / The Law of the Sea”), although my favourite one is their third album, “De un país en llamas” (“From a Country in Flames”, 1985). In these albums they began to introduce some Caribbean influences that increased its height in posterior albums as the great “La canción de Juan Perro” (“The Song of Juan Dog”, 1987) and “Veneno en la piel” (“Poison on the Skin”, 1990).
My favourite song of Radio Futura is not one of the most popular and well regarded ones, “Han caído los dos” (“They’ve Both Fallen Down”), despite being released as third single from the 1985 album. A song dealing (probably) with drug addiction, or maybe this is the meaning that I always wanted to find. It reminds me of two friends that had “both fallen down” into heroin addiction. He died long ago and she’s still “chasing a blinding light along the timeline”

HAN CAÍDO LOS DOS
Composers: Santiago Auserón / Luis Auserón
Performer: RADIO FUTURA
First release: 1985 (“De un país en llamas” album)
Length: 4’07”

Han caído los dos.

Han caído los dos cual soldados fulminados al suelo
y ahora están atrapados los dos en la misma prisión,
vigilados por el ojo incansable del deseo voraz,
sometidos a una insoportable tensión de silencio.

Han caído los dos bajo el punto de vista exclusivo,
iniciando una guerra en que nadie pudo vencer jamás.
Ella sabe lo que el hombre espera sin haberlo aprendido
y él encuentra sentido al enigma que no le dejaba existir.

Antes eran dos barcos sin rumbo, hoy son dos marionetas que van
persiguiendo una luz cegadora por la línea del tiempo.
Han caído los dos en la boca de un dios tenebroso
que sonríe mostrando sus dientes de acero.

Han caído los dos cual soldados fulminados al suelo
y ahora están atrapados los dos en la misma prisión,
vigilados por el ojo incansable del deseo voraz,
sometidos a una insoportable tensión de silencio.

Han caído los dos bajo el punto de vista exclusivo,
iniciando una guerra en que nadie pudo vencer jamás.
Ella sabe lo que el hombre espera sin haberlo aprendido
y él encuentra sentido al enigma que no le dejaba existir.

Antes eran dos barcos sin rumbo, hoy son dos marionetas que van
persiguiendo una luz cegadora por la línea del tiempo.
Han caído los dos en la boca de un dios tenebroso
que sonríe mostrando sus dientes de acero.

Ella sabe lo que el hombre espera sin haberlo aprendido
y él encuentra sentido al enigma que no le dejaba existir.

THEY’VE BOTH FALLEN DOWN

They’ve both fallen down.

They’ve both fallen down like soldiers struck down to the floor
and now they’ve both trapped down in the same prison,
watched by the tireless eye of the fierce desire,
submitted to an unbearable tension of silence.

They’ve both fallen down under an exclusive point of view,
beginning a war that nobody could never win.
She knows what the man is waiting for without having learned it
and he found the meaning of the enigma that kept him from existing.

They were two ships adrift before, now they are two puppets
chasing a blinding light along the timeline.
They’ve both fallen down in the mouth of a sinister God
that smiles showing his steel claws.

They’ve both fallen down like soldiers struck down to the floor
and now they’ve both trapped down in the same prison,
watched by the tireless eye of the fierce desire,
submitted to an unbearable tension of silence.

They’ve both fallen down under an exclusive point of view,
beginning a war that nobody could never win.
She knows what the man is waiting for without having learned it
and he found the meaning of the enigma that kept him from existing.

They were two ships adrift before, now they are two puppets
chasing a blinding light along the timeline.
They’ve both fallen down in the mouth of a sinister God
that smiles showing his steel claws.

She knows what the main is waiting for without having learned it
and he found the meaning of the enigma that kept him from existing.

A bad quality video of the song: