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Plástico

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades · 1978 · written by Rubén Blades, from the album Siembra

A disco beat, then salsa: Rubén Blades mocks a city of plastic people who only care about looks, then calls a whole continent to roll call.

The story

  1. 1.A plastic girl

    First we meet a young woman who lives for brand names and appearances. Her plan for life is to marry a doctor, because he'll be able to keep her in style.

  2. 2.A plastic guy

    Then a young man who only thinks about his car and looking elegant. He'd rather skip a meal than be seen without style.

  3. 3.A plastic couple

    Then a couple who live in debt to keep up appearances, and who teach their five-year-old not to play with children of a different color.

  4. 4.A plastic city

    Around them all, a city where faces are seen but hearts never are, and money is the only thing that counts.

  5. 5.Listen, Latino

    Then the song turns. Blades talks straight to Latin Americans: don't sell your future for money or copy borrowed models. Study, work, be a real person first, and remember that plastic melts.

  6. 6.Roll call

    It ends with a roll call of nations, one people standing together, from Panama, Puerto Rico and Mexico to Cuba, Colombia and Argentina, and each one answers “present!”.

Key phrases

  • “Ella era una chica plástica”She was a plastic girlPlástica is fake, artificial: all surface. It's how the song introduces each of its characters.
  • “Se ven las caras, pero nunca el corazón”You see the faces, but never the heartThe line that sums up the plastic city: everybody on display, nobody really known.
  • “Estudia, trabaja, sé gente primero”Study, work, be a person firstSer gente, “to be people”, means being a decent, real human being. It's the song's answer to the plastic life.
  • “el plástico se derrite”Plastic meltsThe warning: what's fake doesn't survive the heat.
  • “¡Presente!”Present!The answer to a school roll call. At the end, it's the answer of every country Blades calls out.

Context

Plástico opens Siembra (Fania, 1978), the album by Willie Colón and Rubén Blades that also gave us “Pedro Navaja”.

It starts with a disco-style groove, the sound that ruled New York's clubs in the late 1970s, before the band drops into salsa. The joke is part of the message: the real thing comes after the imitation.

Like Pedro Navaja, it's salsa consciente, socially conscious salsa. Instead of one crime story, Blades takes on a whole way of life: showing off, keeping up appearances, and looking down on your own people.

On the dance floor

Don't be fooled by the intro: after the disco opening the band shifts into a hard-driving salsa. Wait for it, and step in on the change.

The verses are long and packed with words. Keep your dancing simple and let the characters go by.

The roll call near the end is a big release: the coro answers each country with “¡presente!”, and dance floors shout along.

This is our own retelling of the song, not its lyrics or a translation of them: the few short phrases quoted are there to explain what they mean. The song belongs to its writer, Rubén Blades.