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"Spanish Eyes" Appreciation thread


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It's fantastic on every level.

What about the lyrical content? Do we all agree that it's about the fight of AIDS in the 80's? I remember a thread on this subject a few years ago cause some people were unsure what she was singing about...

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It's fantastic on every level.

What about the lyrical content? Do we all agree that it's about the fight of AIDS in the 80's? I remember a thread on this subject a few years ago cause some people were unsure what she was singing about...

I always asumed that it was about the guerillas in different Latinoamerica countries.Never thought about AIDS. It's about the girlfriend or mother or person that sees the beloved man go away to fight in a useless fight.

"He had to fight like all the rest
In the barrio all the streets are paved with fear
I don't understand; at least he was a man"

El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia... there were difficult times in the 80s.

How many lives will they have to take?

How much heartache?

How many suns will they have to burn?

Spanish eyes

When will they ever learn?

You were not the Maravilla in our minds

We were proud to fight but we cannot win this blind

Stand your guns against the wall

Who's next in line to fall

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I always asumed that it was about the guerillas in different Latinoamerica countries.Never thought about AIDS. It's about the girlfriend or mother or person that sees the beloved man go away to fight in a useless fight.

That's how I see it too... !

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Yes, in fact the album is remembered by the AIDS message included in that paper, but there's no song about AIDS on it, you have to wait for Erotica to find In This Life.

So maybe it was about AIDS and i never thought. Maybe because she talks about guns and streets paved with fear i always assumed it was the gerilla, but that line "stand your guns against the wall, who's next in line to fall" is a pretty way to explain how many deaths there were being.

But it will be different to me to listen to the song and not imagine the girlfriend of some young who has to go to fight with the rebels, and she waits while she lights the candle.

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It's beautiful and raw vocally. Definitely one of her best as far as singing emotionally.

A girl in high school said "oh, she sounds terrible".....if I wasn't such a gentle person back then, I woulda slapped that bitch!

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It was always called Spanish Eyes as far as I know.

I consider it the double A side of Oh Father. It was actually a radio hit in South America at the same time that OF failed to capture a larger audience there (and everywhere).

I always imagined a black and white video and M with her LAP-cover dark hair doing something like the Secret video. Come to think of it, I imagined the video for SE being exactly like the Secret video except the hair color. Can someone with editing skills make a video for SE with the Secret footage?????

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It's fantastic on every level.

What about the lyrical content? Do we all agree that it's about the fight of AIDS in the 80's? I remember a thread on this subject a few years ago cause some people were unsure what she was singing about...

Yeah, this was just my interpretation. A song about guerilla warfare in South America just doesn't seem like something M would write about. I like the idea of it though. Both work and I love how it can be interpreted both ways.

This is something I would want to ask her if I ever had the chance.

i love this song. my first cassette (no, really... it's the first cassette, cd, music anything i ever got) had it listed as "PRAY FOR SPANISH EYES" and then my cd says "SPANISH EYES." i've always been very interested in what that's about if anyone has any information?

Wasn't "Pray for Spanish Eyes" only on the international versions? I always thought it was a typo or just a small change in some countries.

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I see the lyrics as neither about guerillas in South American or AIDS, but about all the young men in poor neighborhoods in the US who were killed by gun violence stemming from drugs The late 80's was the height of the crack epidemic in the US which led to a lot of people being killed by gun fights between rival drug gangs which a lot of innocent bystanders got caught up in. That would be something Madonna would be more aware of than guerilla warfare in South America, especially living in NYC.

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