Just to be clear pt. 2...

[skyecaptain]

...Can't keep up with the various threads, but has anyone talked about the plot of "Te Amo" yet? This is what I wrote on Lex's thread:

Has anyone talked about how "Te Amo" seems to be about Rihanna being hit on by a woman in a club and cautiously kind of going with it? "Just watch your hands!" Or is she singing from the perspective of the

Comments

[skyecaptain]

Well "Te Amo" has almost single-handedly catapulted this damn thing up to c. #3 on my list. And this is despite my having listened to it a good four or five times before the album came out without having any clue as to what it was about.

[koganbot]

You've probably answered this to your own satisfactions already, but anyway weasel_seeker asked over on the Iko Iko thread:

I also can't decide if the line in Te Amo is "I tell I'm not gon' run away, but let me go" or "I tell her I not go 'round that way, just let me go"

I hear, "I told her I never run away, but lemme go."

[edgeofwhatever]

I hear "not gonna run away."

[skyecaptain]

Yeah "not gonna run away" seems to be the one that makes more sense.

[koganbot]

But I definitely don't hear "not gonna run away," which has more syllables than she actually sings. I even more definitely don't hear "not go 'round that way."

These are the two choices in the order that I think is right:

"I told her I never run away"
"I told her I not gon run away"

As far as sense goes, the last is equivalent to "I not gonna run away" and I think it's actually more grammatical than "I not gonna run away" (or "I'm not gonna run away"); that is, I read somewhere once that in black English "I not gonna" and "I'm not gonna" aren't grammatical, whereas "I not gon" is; but I don't claim to know much of anything about black English.

But I don't hear "not gon" and I don't think it is even singable in the cadence I do hear. I hear "never." Which could mean "I never run away from such situations" or "I never run away from you," neither of which fits the context as well as "I not gon" - I mean, fits what I would say if I were her in that situation. But I'm not her, and I didn't write the lyrics.

[weasel_seeker]

I definitely heard "I told her I'm not gon' run away" but I mistyped the first time I posted a comment in the Iko Iko thread. It's slurred and elided because of the Bajan accent, but it's fairly evident

[weasel_seeker]

she's credited as co-writer and there's a verse added to the demo

[weasel_seeker]

Mmm. Poor phrasing on my part. What I meant was that the original demo didn't necessary have that angle in mind, and thus the fact that Rihanna's final recording/co-written version embraces such a reading of the track is thus very deliberate - it would have been easy, given that she has a co-write, to flip the gender of her suitor to male if she so chose.

[koganbot]

Yeah, Fauntleroy is singing "I told her I not gon run away" (or "I told her I'm not gon run away"), so that's probably what Rihanna is singing too, but still her version sounds more like "I told her I never run away." "I told her I not gon run away" does make more sense.

[skyecaptain]

Last thought on the lyrics, there are two interpretations depending on how you read the reciprocating "te amo" from Rihanna. "And her (my?) soul [something], without asking why, I said 'te amo' -- wish somebody tell me what she said" could mean either (1) Rihanna says "'te amo' -- wish somebody tell me what she said" as in "what does 'te amo' mean" or (2) Rihanna says "without asking why, I said 'te amo' [in return]. Wish somebody tell me what she said."

The second interpretation is the one I'm hearing in the song's melancholy, even though the first one might make more sense to the narrative. Though both "make sense" strictly speaking and I love the idea that she, almost automatically, says "te amo" back without totally knowing what it means (literally or metaphorically).

[weasel_seeker]

My soul hears her cry. Without asking why.

[skyecaptain]

I hear that clearly in the other version, but I still can't make out what Rihanna herself is saying as clearly. But I'll take yer word for it. Still think the two interpretation thing stands tho.

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