What do the Spanish lyrics mean in The Beatles song ‘Sun King’?
Months before George Harrison brought fan favourite ‘Here Comes the Sun’ to his bandmates for the first time, John Lennon could be seen in The Beatles’ Apple Studios working out the serene guitar riff for a similarly entitled track. His meditative ‘Here Comes the Sun King’ was later included in Abbey Road’s side two medleys and its title had to be cut down to two words so as to avert any confusion with Harrison’s composition.
‘Sun King’ enters the fray immediately after the medley’s first number, ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’, a tranquil moment of contemplation before the arrival of Lennon’s harder-edged vignettes ‘Mean Mr Mustard’ and ‘Polythene Pam’. George Martin even added the sound of chirping cicadas for good measure, rounding out the peaceful ambience of an early morning sunrise.
What few lyrics the song has been sung in tight-knit three-part harmonies by Lennon, Paul McCartney and Harrison to sublime effect over dreamy, washed-out guitars. And over half of the words aren’t even English, with the final three lines reading as follows:
“Quando para mucho mi amore de felice corazon
Mundo paparazzi mi amore chica ferdi parasol
Questo obrigado tanta mucho que can eat it carousel”.
But is this language really Spanish?
Technically speaking, the words “Quando para mucho mi amore de felice corazon” are all Spanish, as is the word “mundo” in the second line and the words “Questo obrigado tanta mucho que” in the last. But these words don’t make much sense in any language when put together. The first line of the three literally translates from Spanish as, “When for many my love of happy heart.” The second line makes even less sense, with “mundo” meaning “world” and “chica” meaning “girl”, but the whole thing translates as, “Paparazzi world my love girl ferdi parasol.”
In fact, for this line, Lennon had inserted a few random outliers, such as the Italian word for press photographers, “paparazzi”, and the old Liverpudlian slang term “chicka ferdy”, a play on the Spanish word for “girl”. Where The Beatles grew up in Liverpool, “chicka ferdy” was playground speak for “fuck off”.
Finally, he rounds off the song by throwing a bit of Portuguese into the mix. “Obrigado” means “thank you” in Portuguese. It’s also a formal way of showing gratitude in Spanish, akin to the English word “obliged”, but is rarely used. In fact, what the group is singing in that last line equates to, “Thank you so much that can eat it carousel.” From from absurd to the absurder.
When asked about these lyrics in an interview used for The Beatles’ Anthology project, Lennon admitted, “We just made it up.” He did get some professional help with his Spanish vocabulary, though. “Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, so we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something.” Apparently, once the recording was completed, Lennon was left kicking himself about a further missed opportunity to show off his multilingual puns.
“One we missed: we could have had ‘para noia’,” he reflected ruefully. “But we forgot all about it.”
Oh well. There are only so many Spanish phrases you can butcher in three lines, I suppose. Besides, what’s there in the lyrics already mucho español for most Beatles fans. Estamos muy obrigados, all the same, though, John.
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