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"Metro Balderas", as it is generally known, or for its original name, "Estación del metro Balderas" ("Balderas subway station"), is a song by Mexican rock musician Rodrigo "Rockdrigo" González, which refers to a man looking for a woman who got lost in the crowd at Mexico City Metro station Metro Balderas. This song, along with other González' songs such as ''Distante instante'' and ''Balada del asalariado,'' can be found in the album ''Hurbanistorias'', recorded in 1982. These songs are available online at González'official website.〔http://www.rockdrigo.com.mx/〕 Gonzalez had enormous influence on Mexican rock bands, such as El Tri and Botellita de Jerez; his songs have been recorded many times, especially after his death. In 2003, a tribute album was recorded by the name "Ofrenda a Rockdrigo" ("An offer to Rockdrigo"). A plaque on Balderas subway station was placed on September 19, 2004 to remember Rockdrigo on the nineteenth anniversary of his death, at 34, when his apartment building collapsed during the big earthquake of 1985 in Mexico City. == Contents of the song == The original song is built as the monologue of an alienated subject hijacking a subway train, with lines such as: ''Get lost from here, mister engineer,'' ''this is a hijack, I'll drive the train.'' () ''You better pay attention or I'll shoot you,'' ''haven't you noticed how upset I am?'' () Once the hijacker's character has been defined, his motivations are eventually revealed and the repeated as a choir all along the song: ''Four years ago I lost my girlfriend'' ''in these crowds that form here.'' () ''I looked for her at platforms and waiting rooms,'' ''but she just got lost in Balderas station.'' () ''It was in Balderas subway station,'' () ''...there a wave of people took her away'' () ''...there I lost my love'' () ''...Darling, I searched for you in every train.'' () The Balderas subway station, as the downtown crossing of the oldest subway line (Line 1) with the longest one (Line 3), has been known for years for its excessive crowds where people gets easily lost, so the story actually makes plenty of poetic sense for local listeners. Even if searching four years for a lost girlfriend at a subway station, let alone hijacking a subway train because of it, are unlikely situations, there is located most of the poetic and ironic force of this song; by exaggerating the loneliness and despair of an individual whose emotional life is run over and ignored by the metropolis, gets to put them more in sight. That subject is far from new; Rockdrigo was fond of universal literature and must have been influenced by some of the many authors who have explored the loneliness of individual in the big city. His intimate and tragicomic tone can be understood in many cultures; but his language is plain and definitely local, ''chilango'' (that is, rooted in Mexico City), to the point that Rockdrigo was compared with the popular songwriter, singer and urban chronicler Chava Flores, who always used Mexican vernacular music forms and never came even close to been a rock musician. Despite the differences of age, generation and style between Chava Flores and Rockdrigo we should say that, at that time, such language and subjects were very innovative in Mexican rock, which until then had been confined between translated American and British covers, dancing rhythms, love ballads, some misunderstood virtuosism and a lot of semi-clandestine young protest. Until the mid-1980s, most conservative groups of Mexican society were wary of Rock because of its load of rebellion and protest, so only artists who wrote mostly about love and used "acceptable" music forms usually tended to prosper. On the other hand, liberal groups, left and intellectuals were also wary of Rock because it was considered an aggression against Mexicanity and a by-product of Imperialism. Maybe the most important contribution by Rockdrigo in his lifetime was to show some kind of compatibility between Chava Flores and Bob Dylan. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Metro Balderas (song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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