I’m tempted to come up with something fancy for the italicized text for this feature. But it’s basically going to be me tearing apart crappy music. I don’t need frills for this.
Also, read the comments. They are, if nothing else, entertaining.
Today, Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” gets hit with a fusion-powered blowtorch.
The video’s been scrubbed for air, but there should be a stupidity warning attached.
Let’s go through the lyrics first. I got these from LyricsBay, which seems like eBay if it didn’t sell anything and only had lyrics, so I’ll try to edit, but I make no promises:
Haha
Its Mr. 305 checkin’ in for the remix,
You know they had that S 75 Street Brazil?
Well this year it’s gon’ be called Calle Ocho
Hahahaha
I see nothing hysterical about stealing someone else’s instrumental and renaming it after your street. But go ahead, keep laughing.
Que ola cata, que ola omega
This is where most Anglos would start blithely singing along and ignoring the rest of the lyrics because God forbid we have to think while listening to music.
Fortunately I have a brain Babelfish: That apparently means “That wave tastes, that wave Omega.” Omega doesn’t mean anything else in my (admittedly somewhat limited) knowledge of Spanish. So, uh, that’s just gibberish. Thanks to “harvardalum2008,” we have a better understanding of what Pit’s saying: He’s shouting out a couple of guys. Or it could be “Que bola,” or “What’s up?”
I stand by the “Yeah, the average listener has stopped trying to understand the Spanish” sentiment.
And this how we gon’ do it
I’m listening, Montell Jordan.
Dale
This is also Spanish. Babelfish says it means “Dale,” but “Da le,” cut out, means “It gives him.” What, exactly, is being given, yo no sé, but I’m guessing that the esteemed 12-year-old at LyricsBay is wrong, and that it’s actually “Jale,” which literally means “it hauls,” and reduces to “Let’s go” in slang. (Also: Could be “dale,” or “do it.”)
One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatro
I’ll give you this: Your Spanish counting is better than Bono’s.
I know you want me (want me)
No.
You know I want cha (want cha)
No. (Look, I said it in Spanish this time! I AM CLEVER.)
I know you want me
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me (want me)
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me
You know I want cha (want cha)
This may be the hook. If it is, it’s annoying, but, well, we’ll be looking back fondly on this in a little while. If it’s not, worry not, there are other catchy and soulless parts to come.
(Hahaha)
Nothing is funny. Stop laughing.
One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatro
This is not kindergarten. You don’t need to keep counting.
Rumba (Si)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)
Rumba (Si)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)
Translation: “Rumba (Yes)/She wants her Rumba (Like?)/Rumba (Yes)/She wants her Rumba (Like).” Unfortunately, if any she is listening to this and not that superior instrumental version, su Rumba may be interrupted by the destruction of the boombox playing this song, and the subsequent applause whoever does that deed will elicit.
Si e’ verdad que tu ere guapa
Yo te voy a poner gozar
Tu tiene la boca grande
Dale ponte a jugar (Como)
Literal translation: “If e’ truth that your ere handsome/I am going to you to put to enjoy/Your it has the great mouth/Dale ponte to play (Like).” Sic.
The translation you’re supposed to get: “It’s true that you’re hot/I am going to put something somewhere/You have a big mouth/It was a really stupid oral sex reference.” Or something like that.
One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatro (Woooo-ooo!)
Boooo-ooo!
Six to the clock, on my way to the top uh,
Standard. Boring.
Pit got it locked from brews to the locker
I think this means he drinks beer. No Grey Goose for Pitbull! Man of the people!
R.I.P, uh, Big and ‘Pac (I guess it could be Un, Big and Pac)
That he’s not, but damn he’s hot
By saying “R.I.P. to Big and ‘Pac,” or whoever, in song, you are doing exactly the opposite of letting them live. Also, one of the four billion things they, as corpses, don’t need: Pitbull memorializing them in one breath and confirming his inferiority in the next.
Label flop but Pit won’t stop
Okay, fair, TVT Records did flop, but your The Boatlift did them no favors. Quoth Wikipedia: “The album debuted at number 50 with sales of 22,203 copies in its first week, far below expectations. Second week sales fell to 9,686 copies sold, and a drop on the charts to number 134, bringing the total units moved to 32,084. The album decrase in sells was because Trina was featured on his album and single which made it a major flop.”
Basically, whoever wrote that page blamed the “decrase in sells” on Trina. I’m sure it had nothing at all to do with that album’s reliance on Lil Jon and Mr. Collipark beats in 2007 and inexplicable featuring of some guy named Pitbull. Right, the “label” flopped. Sure.
Got her in the cockpit, playin’ with Pit’s cock
Vulgar, and probably dangerous, but clever…
Now watch him make a movie like Alba Hitch Hock
(Note: That was actually how someone transcribed this.)
…and you killed it. Albert Hitchcock? A sex tape reference?
You, Pitbull, are a moron.
I know you want me (want me)
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me (want me)
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me
You know I want cha (want cha)One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatroRumba (Si)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)
Rumba (Si)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)Si es verdad que tu ere guapa,
Yo te voy a poner gozar
Tu tiene la boca grande
dale ponte a jugar (Como)One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatro (Woooo-ooo!)
Somehow, this, lyrically, at least, is better than that last line. Maybe the song will return to a tenable level of mediocrity…
Mami got an ass like a donkey
…oh, no. No, it didn’t.
I’m not even sure on what level this should work: Is Pit calling “Mami’s” ass mulish? Is her ass hairy and possessed of a bristling tail? Is it skinny and bony? Is the entire point that ass and donkey are sort of synonyms? This is worse than that time Katy Perry tried to form a cogent thought.
With a monkey, look like King Kong
And it gets worse. What monkey? Is it Mami’s monkey? Why does she have a monkey? Why are you mentioning it? What kind of zoo are you running?
Welcome to the crib
Why are you using the word crib? Is this 2002?
Or is this some post-slang term for zoo?
305, that’s what it is
No, it is a musical travesty akin to Jessica Simpson’s career. But continue.
Where the women down here are the shit
“Where” and “down here” are both saying the same thing, but that’s like the breaking and entering committed in the course the home invasion on good taste Pit’s got going on at the moment, so I’ll let it slide.
They don’t play games, they off the chain
I was wrong earlier: Apparently, it’s 2001.
And they love to do everythang and anythang
If they’re Trina, they might even make your label flop!
And they love it gettin’ it in, gettin’ on, all night long
Ah, more inarticulate sex references. Whew, at least the chorus is back.
I know you want me (want me)
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me (want me)
You know I want cha (want cha)
I know you want me
You know I want cha (want cha)
Really, at this point, after being told their ass was like a donkey, would any women really want Pitbull?
You know what, don’t answer that. I want to believe that no one would.
One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatroRumba (Si)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)
Rumba (Si)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)Si es verdad que tu ere guapa,
Yo te voy a poner gozar
Tu tiene la boca grande
Dale ponte a jugar (Como)One-two-three-four
Uno-do’-tres-cuatro
Baby you can get it, if you wit’ it we can play
This was evident from the first word of this song. But thanks for clarifying.
Baby I got cribs, I got condos, we can stay
This has begun as a promisingly decent, if generic, verse…
Even got a king size mattress, we can lay
…and then it ends with that. Why would this be at the end of a list of domiciles? It is a separate home? Is it somehow more impressive than the cribs and condos that Pit seems to (not) have? Is it particularly comfortable?
This is how not to brag.
Baby I don’t care, I don’t care, what they say
It’s really a shame that Pitbull will never read this.
In the interest of time and space, just know that there’s another chorus/hook/pre-hook/post-hook segment, no different from the first two, except for your ears maybe being out of blood to bleed.
Now, let me move on to the music: It sucks. It’s a spare little synth/drum loop/guitar combo, which, admittedly, would be good for dancing, and comes from a good sample, but sounds like every other reggaeton-ish song of the last decade. It’s utterly generic.
And so is the video: I’m assuming it was made for like forty bucks, because there’s definitely no actual set, just a green screen, Pitbull being as unsexy as possible while counting numbers on his hands, and five or six models (one twirling a Brazilian flag, one in a bikini, and one in a stewardess’ outfit) doing the same old video vixen thing.
And yet this song is a hit. God help us all.
Drake, if you are listening: Go back to Toronto. America does not deserve you. And Pitbull, if you are reading this: I almost miss that time when you were shooting down others’ political convictions.
That, however inane, was better than this.
I’ll be back to writing about good music soon. I promise.
The Rockabye Review 
I don’t think it compares to:
I’m Mr. 305 – AKA
Mr snort yay spit rock made in day.
You know why this song’s a hit? Because people are dumb. I will admit to shaking my ass to this, but I never bothered to really listen to the lyrics.
Wow. Just wow. It’s almost as if it were written by a bunch of monkeys reading my Facebook updates. The one provided by my cousins (the ones who are in their teens and early 20s, anyway.)
I feel bad that you actually sat there and listened to every line.
i like ur last line..
Oright Look… Spanish Lyric Song Aren’t Really Supposed To Be Translated. The Reason Is Because The Music Doesn’t Sound The Same In English. The Composer Knows It Doesn’t Make Alotta Sense When They Write It And It’s Not Supposed To. They Know How Stoopid It Sounds In English But In Spanish…. Completely Different Approaches
@First: Pitbull is generally bad.
@metsy: I heard it for the first time last night on the radio and was actually yelling expletives at the radio as I was driving.
Then I came home and listened to it again to confirm how bad it was.
Then the server for some other blog crashed this morning, so I had the time to write this.
And, @both: Worry not, there are further slayings to come. Feel free to send me bad, bad stuff. I will desiccate.
I am so glad that you gave us this blow-by-blow because this song irritates me to no end. He bastardized “Beantown Boogie” for this garbage.
It is scary how stupid people are.
“Beantown Boogie”??? Sure It Doesn’t Sound Like “Sultry Saltine”
Wow that song is dumb as shit. I guess it’s catchy in a beer commercial kind of way, but yeah, it sucks. Maybe some of things you couldn’t translate were slang? Either way, I’m not too concerned because it sounds like this summer’s version of Macarena/Who Let The Dogs Out/Crank That Soulja Boy/etc.
Thanks guys, good info.
good aritcle
That was a nice read.
this is just a lenghtier version of what i try and explain to whoever is around me every fuckin time this “track” is played in my unfortunate surroundings….thanks for the writeup
Come on, most of the rappers raps about sex, just because Pitbull sings ‘i know you want me’ and it’s a huge hit that doesn’t mean he is vulgar and bad..The rapper’s got talent, all his hits has been hits on the radio, culo, krazy, go girl, IKNOYME and Hotel service room..
Congratz Pit on your success!!
Vulgar, a little. Stupid, definitely. And hits aren’t indicators of talent: That’s an argument you’re going to lose.
bro u need a spanish dictionary non of your translations are correct
By all means, help me out. What should the things I plugged into Babelfish and used my knowledge of colloquial Spanish be?
LMAO. This was a FUNNY!!! write up. I was rolf laughing.
It’s party music.. who cares what the lyrics says. We’re not in school, not jammin’ 2 this 2 learn anything & come away enlightened, -just entertainment. Like Cris Rock said women dance 2 D raunchiness lyrics… Till the swear rolls off your balls.. Skeet. . skeet skeet. no worse than that.. at least its in slang so we cant understand whats being said. Less cussing that way. lol
i agree…its simply music, to partayyy. when ur 1/2 a@@ drunk and looking to dance (or score?) “ya got yer hands up, playin my song…lalala” must we pic apart everything. don’t think Pit got any muzak degrees or even an bs in English; but hey its great to dance to 🙂
When pit say “Mami got an ass like a donkey” and the stuff after it donkey and monkey are most likely slang for a women’s fine ass. So,
Donkey+Monkey= an ass as awsome as king kong. Thats pretty much what i sorted out of this jumbled mess of lyrics.
I, uh, I got that.
Pitbull I know you want me (calle ocho)
HERE IS A BETTER TRANSLATION from spanish to english-it actually makes sense-
Que ola cata, Que ola omega
wassup cata, wassup omega
and this how we gon do it
Dale!-
This is used as slang for “lets go”
Rumba (Si) (rumba is a dance/music from Cuba, combines footwork and hip movement, pretty complex)
rumba (yes)
Ella quiere su Rumba (Como?)
she wants HIS rumba (what?) — I am thinking he cut out the “que” before “su” to make the song more fluid- and this translation makes sense to me cuz he is being sexual
Rumba (Si)
rumba (yes)
Ella quiere si Rumba (Como?)
she wants HIS rumba (what?)
Si e’ verdad que tu ere guapa,
if it’s true you’re hot/beautiful
Yo te voy a poner gozar.
Imma make you enjoy.(with refrences to putting something somewhere*use ur imaginations*)
Tu tiene la boca grande
you got a big mouth
dale ponte a jugar (Como)
c’mon and play (what?)
If I went to his concert dressed as PeeWee Herman, I would be as culturally relavent as this song..
I laughed out loud while reading this!! Thanks for the great work.
I am sad to say that I have something to offer in the “donkey/monkey” area. Wait, that didn’t come out the way I planned. Anyway, I agree that “donkey” is referring to the posterior, but I suspect that “monkey” is referring to the “flip-side”. “Look like King Kong”…use your imagination (owww, my eyes are burning…)
Keep up the great work
Oh, good God.
Thanks for the kind words and the image that no amount of mental Clorox could ever erase.
You might enjoy the latest post, a similar breakdown.
this is a pissa!! who ever did this should be very proud lmfao!!!
You based this entry solely on Babel translator. Most of ur blog is pretty entertaining, but you lost a lot of credibility on this one, use a proper source or don’t critique this song.
you’re ignorant.
he is speaking brazilian portuguese.
you are not cool so stop acting like you’re the shit.
Where exactly is he speaking brazilian portuguese?
Funnily enough the counting he does in the song is in Spanish, and the song has such a brasilian theme, just seems stupid that he didnt even bother counting in Portuguese (brasilian).
awesome article.
For all my anglo friends. It’s “Que bola”, not “que ola” which is cuban slang for “whats up”. He’s in fact singing “What’s up Omega!”. Assuming that’s a shout-out to friend. I went to school with Pitbull and “Que bola” is something we’d all say to each other here in Miami. It’s like saying “whazzaaaaaap”. On a side note, “dale” means both “do it” and “go” in cuban slang.
Thanks. I was going by the lyrics on another site for the Spanish, obviously, but I love the perspective.
Omega is actualy A latin Merengue Artist he has song with him so he gives him a shout out
Youtube “Pitbull y Omega – Mi Alma Se muere”
An Cata is also a Merengue singer both of Merengue Mambo Singers from Dominican Republic
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHHHAHAHAHA!
Good one!
Wow, you’re a fucking idiot. Your translations are completely off and you have no concept of Spanish. You rely on Babelfish to understand this song but it is no substitute for even a less than basic understanding of the language. By the way, it IS “dale” and El Cata and Omega are people, dumbass. But go ahead and continue to elevate yourself above the rest of the world, you ignorant yet surprisingly arrogant and opinionated piece of shit.
LOL! Very entertaining break down. Just want to point out, however; that “donkey” is a slang term used to describe a woman with a large but firm and nice butt. It’s meant as a compliment similar to the term “phat”. To berate someone based on an opinion you’ve made without understanding their culture doesnt display any superior education on your part. In fact, in my opinion it was sad to see how someone who seems fairly educated so easily judges those they do not understand. With that said, opinions are opinions and we are each entitled to have our own. I’m just hoping that you might put some more thought into the culture behind the music before you post a review.
>>To berate someone based on an opinion you’ve made without understanding their culture doesn’t display any superior education on your part.
That’s true. The song is stupid (but hey it’s a club track for bimbos to shake to), however you sound so smug coming up with this ignoramus babelfish sh*t. C’mon man…
I found this blog while looking for the “dirty” version of this song (in which he says cock and shit), and thought this article was funny.
It’s true that this song sucks. The lyrics are terrible, but me being a DJ, I play it almost every time I’m doing a set because people go nuts for it.
Anyways, I like having the *real* dirty version of the song, where did you find one with the above expletives on it? I can’t find that shit anywhere.
lol that is so true this whole song is about sex and women
DALE in spanish slang means hit it by the way…
Actually, “Dale” as a slang can be used for many things. It can be “Com’ On”, “Hit it”, “Go” or “Do it”, among other things.
no wonder this was a hit….it was talking bout donkey asses O_O and king kong O_O tats some hell of a combo!!!
I found a fairly accurate description of Pitbull and his song on another blog:
“Every year seems to have one: a gurning, unattractive man singing a piss-poor song about how sexually irresistible he is, with a video of gyrating, jiggling ladies trying to look like they’re somehow pleased by the advances of this leering tosspot. This year it’s Pitbull – hopefully so nicknamed because the tabloid press have launched a popular campaign to have him put down.”
I’m surprised that the guy who wrote this could type as he seems to be so far up his own ass..
No shit its not gonna make sense if you translate it on BABELFISH you dumbass
Aw, man, ZING! You are the funniest person in the world!
No wonder Pitbull’s odd mangling of Spanglish doesn’t translate effectively! It’s slang! It’s lyrical wallpaper to most gringos!
That was exactly my point, and why I tried to decipher the slang and awful Babelfish translations where I could.
But, hey, anonymous Internet commenter, your opinion is invaluable.
Nice article.
Ok, first, I would like to point out that I’m not here to deffend this lyrics in any way.
Now that that’s out of theway, you have to understand that people who like reggeaton (and I’m speaking as one of them) don’t really pay attention to the lyrics. No one is interested in what the artist has to say. Most just wanna dance, forget the rest. Try looking up other reggaeton songs like “Gasolina” or “Rakata”. The lyrics are absurd, but the rythm is not bad for dancing. Appart from that, I know quite a few genres of music that are just as bad and people still like it. Have you ever heard of “Funk Carioca”? Is worse and still very popular in Brasil, speacially because of the beat. What about some Hip-Hop songs like Lil’ Jon’s “Get Low”?
So, is not that people are completly stupid and humanity is hopeless, is just that they don’t relly care about what those kind of artist have to say.
Btw,
Si e’ verdad que tu ere guapa
Yo te voy a poner gozar
Tu tiene la boca grande
Dale ponte a jugar (Como)
Actually translates to
If is tru that you’re hot
I will make you cum
You have a big mouth
Com’ on start playing (How?)
Yeah, I know, it doesn’t make it any better…
You want to know why this is a hit? It’s just a fun song! an artist with no talent who looks/sounds like he is having a good time is going to be immensely more successful than a talented Bore… nuf said
It’s stunning that, even something like a year and a half later, I still get comments like this.
Yes, I’m aware that this is a fun song.
Yes, I’m aware that there is music that is supposed to be heard with feet and not ears.
No, I’m not going to not make fun of rappers who think “Albert Hitchcock” is a person.
party musics are always groovy and danceable, we love to dance to the beat of party musics *
I want to point out something here. Your analysis of the lines, “305, that’s what it is; Where the women down here are the shit…” I’m guessing you haven’t had the best grammar schooling in the world. It’s right. When he says where, he is referring to the number stated in the previous line of the song, and when he says down here, he is referring to the general area of the location of 305, be it an apartment, a street, or something of that nature. So when he says “Where the women down here are the shit,” he is actually saying the women in the place he refers to are the best in the local area. It’s called a grammatical breakdown, not a hater’s breakdown. You were thinking too hard on this one and missed the point by a mile buddy. Not to mention you didn’t use a very reliable translator. By the way, ALBERT Hitchcock was an actual person. He was a famous botanist in the late 1880s to the mid 1930s. So I will give you that Pitbull made a mistake but ALBERT Hitchcock was real, just not a movie director.
We’re a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your website provided us with valuable information to paintings on. You’ve performed an impressive activity and our entire neighborhood will probably be thankful to you.
305 is the area code for Dade County Miami, duh. This article is just total crap – poor translations, retarded sarcasm, misinformation….. if you don’t enjoy the music, just turn it off. And stick to whatever it is you think you’re an expert in….obviously not music or at least this genre.
that was so hilarious. Pitbull songs are good for one thing…cleaning house to. They all stay on mostly the same beat so you can put some on and not get slowed down in your cleaning momentum.
Thanks a ton for the article that I just found. Hope there’s more
The Breakdown: Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” The Rockabye Review I would prefer to uslysht slightly much more on this topic
Absolutely hilarious!!!
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First, commenting in 2017 on Pitbull and on this write up, I understand how and why Trump was voted in. Second, your Babelfish and whoever else translated for you are all on some good quality rock-cocaine. Anyway, in 2009 it was a great track to get some fallatio too by Hispanic prostitutes. But most of your translation is wrong. All wrong. I hope you google your translation’s more. This sucked.