No es serio este cementerio

The song No es serio este cementerio by Mecano immerses us in a reflection on life and death with a tone that mixes the tragic and the comical, almost like a parody of what existence in the afterlife might be like. The lyrics delve into the routines of cemeteries and what surrounds eternal life, but they do so with a very particular dark humor. As a distinctive sonic detail, in the final part of the song, José María Cano deliberately incorporated, sung by Ana Torroja, a Latin phrase: "Finis gloriæ mvndi homini", which translates to "The end of the glory of the world of man". This inclusion seems to be an allusion to the transience of earthly life and the banalities that often surround it, a theme that resonates in the lyrics themselves.

This use of Latin is not the only time Mecano explored this path. Back in 1984, Nacho Cano composed and produced La extraña posición, a song that narrates a passionate murder and includes a fragment of about 40 seconds sung in Latin by the Choir of St. Mathews Church in London. Regarding No es serio este cementerio, the Latin phrase could have an echo in the work of the Spanish Baroque painter Juan de Valdés Leal (1622-1690), who painted a fresco with a very similar title, located in the Church of the Hospital de la Santa Caridad in Seville. The song was released as a single in 1987, forming part of the album Entre el cielo y el suelo, released in 1986. This album marked a turning point in Mecano's career, representing a stage of creative and technical maturity that boosted their international recognition. The design of the single's cover, like others before it, maintains thematic coherence with the album, showing a detail from the photo shoot, with Nacho Cano's face looking towards the ground on the left and central part, and the group's and song's names arranged vertically on the right side. The song's mix was handled by Luis Fernández Soria, and the production was carried out by Mecano.