El aguijón

The Sting sounds like a guitar whip that tangles with a bass that won’t let go, all wrapped in a rhythm that seems to circle but never repeats the same way. The track kicks off with a riff that sticks in your head from the first measure, as if it were the trap of a snare: short, direct, and with that mix of ska and rock that Los Fabulosos Cadillacs had already made their trademark. It’s not the most well-known song on the album, but there it stands, solid, like a bridge between what they’d already done and what was still to come.

They recorded it in 1992, in the middle of a time when the band was blending everything they heard: from Jamaican ska to Argentine rock, through rhythms that smelled of beach and party. The Lion, the album where The Sting lives, came out just as the group was at its creative peak, testing sounds that would later become key in Latin rock. The song itself runs for 4:53, long enough for the bass and drums to play hide-and-seek while the voice of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs sketches a melody that won’t fade. It wasn’t one of the most promoted singles from the album, but live it always had that effect of making people move their feet without realizing it.