While Pedro Navaja is one of the most popular salsa songs of
all times, many people fail to see its lyrical significance or simply wonder
why such a dark storyline was chosen as the basis for a song which is part of
an upbeat musical genre usually associated with making people happy. However,
delving into the history of the story and the messages it tries to convey is as
fascinating as the music itself.
The song was heavily influenced by Mack the knife or its
original title “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”, a song composed for the music
drama Die Dreigroschenoper by Bertold Brecht which was played for the first
time in 1928 and was in turn based on John Gay’s “The Beggars Opera” written in
1728. While it is not known how much Rubén Blades tried to identify with
Brechtian thought, the parallels between “Die Dreigroschenoper” or its English
translation “The Threepenny Opera” cannot be ignored.
First of all, the name of the title character Pedro Navaja
is a direct reference to Mackie Messer with “Navaja” and “Messer” both meaning
knife in Spanish and German respectively. Mackie Messer, whose real name is Macheath,
is based on the highwayman in The Beggar's Opera who was inspired by Jack
Sheppard, a notorious thief who plagued London in the 18th century.
Towards the end of the song we hear the lyrics “Valiente
pescador, al anzuelo que tiraste en vez de una sardina, un tiburón enganchaste”
which loosely translates to “Criminal fisherman by throwing a hook you caught a
shark instead of a sardine”. This is again a direct reference to Mackie Messer
who is introduced by the verse:
“Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im
Gesicht
Und Macheath, der
hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer
sieht man nicht.”
Or its literal English translation:
And the shark, he has teeth
he wears them in his face
And Macheath, he has a knife,
but no one sees the knife.
Both Macheath and Pedro Navaja are introduced with the knife
that is concealed from everyone else. What is interesting is the shark
reference that is present in both lyrics. This describes the criminal in Brecht’s work whereas
Blades uses it to describe the victim.
Blades’ lyrics are full of these references that directly
refer back to Die Dreigroschenoper while at the same time changing small
details that leave new room for interpretation and imagination.
Similarly, John Gay’s original work can be seen as having
had an impact on Pedro Navaja i.e. In his article “In Possession of a Stolen
Weapon” Antonio Viselli draws a parallel between the thief catcher Peachum in
The Beggar’s Opera and the police that are referenced in Pedro Navaja. Despite
their car not being marked, everyone knows that it is a police car, describing the police's complete ineffectiveness or maybe unwillingness to help
against criminals such as Pedro Navaja. Similarly, Peachum knows the criminals
around him but only takes them to the criminal court system if they are not
useful to him in other ways.
One of the lessons we learn from Die Dreigroschenoper is
that the more corrupt society is as a whole, the more corrupt are the
individuals who live in it and on a more general level, Brecht uses his play to
criticise capitalism and its effect on society. This is again a theme that is
used by Blades throughout his song Pedro Navaja, which culminates in the death of
both the prostitute and the thief over a few pesos. The most striking emphasis
of this point is however not the death of the two main characters but rather
the fact that a drunkard who stumbles over the two bodies uses the
opportunity to take the revolver, the knife and the money while no one else
seems to care about the situation. Despite the noise, nobody asks
questions about the crime, no one comes to aid the victim or calls the police
and no one seems surprised or even interested in the incident that has just
transpired. The only person who seems happy about his fortune in the entire
song is the drunkard who walks away singing. This paints a picture of
capitalist societies which are completely deprived of social values, ethics and
empathy where the winner is whoever ends up with material value and while everyone
fights over a few breadcrumbs it is never certain who will emerge victorious
in a world without social concerns.
In the story, the prostitute is surprised to have her
earnings threatened by the thief, the thief is surprised to have his pickings
threatened by the fact that the prostitute is not defenceless and the drunkard
is surprised to find easily accessible goods on the street that he can steal.
The futility of this situation is brought to a conclusion by expressing all of
these incidences as well as the deeper subtext of the story with one single
slogan sung by the drunkard until the end of the song: “La vida te da
sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida, ¡Ay Dios!.” (English: "Life gives you
surprises, life gives you surprises" my God.)
