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From album
Honestidad brutal
Andrés Calamaro · 1999 · Track 10
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The story behind
The first time I heard Hacer el tonto, I had the feeling it wasn’t just any song: the piano sounds as if it’s deliberately out of tune, but it’s no accident. There’s something in the way Calamaro lets the notes fall, with that mix of boldness and melancholy, that makes the track feel closer to a monologue than a standard performance. The bass, for its part, moves to a rhythm that seems to slip out of time, as if it doesn’t quite want to fit in, and that gives it that air of controlled chaos that ends up being its most recognizable trademark. The drums, on the other hand, stay steady, almost like a counterpoint to the sense of disorder the other instruments convey. It’s a song that sounds like a confession, but told between laughter and occasional outbursts.
Calamaro arrived at Hacer el tonto after years playing in rock, blues, and even groups that imitated The Platters. Before that, he had started with the bandoneon at eight years old and later switched to the electric guitar and piano, an instrument he learned under the guidance of his teacher Osvaldo Calo. In Uruguay, already as a keyboardist, he recorded his first album with the group Raíces, but soon joined Chorizo Colorado Blues Band alongside his friend Augusto Gringui Herrera. Later, after trying his luck with various lineups, he ended up in the group Stress, where he crossed paths with Gustavo Cerati and Héctor Zeta Bosio, before that project evolved into Los Estereotipos. The song, clocking in at three minutes and four seconds, seems to capture that mix of experience and boldness that defined him during that time.