Last Saturday our evening practice group finished the 36th and final song from our current “season” of content, which focused entirely on songs from Daniel De Leon Guerrero. We’ve been making our way through this list of songs since April or May of 2024, and so it was a huge accomplishment to finish all the songs. I’ve personally felt how much my listening comprehension has improved from these evening practice groups, and we’ve also seen progress with those who’ve stayed with our group over the years. This song also took us longer than usual to transcribe, and we are so grateful to everyone who attended last Saturday and to those who were able to stick with us to the very end. In agradesi hamyu 🙂
Now that we’ve finished this list, we are already preparing a new round of songs for our evening group. Jay has landed on a focus that I appreciate, and we can’t wait to get started on transcribing them together.
In this post, here is that final song, called Atkahót by Daniel De Leon Guerrero. It’s actually a cover of a country song by Brad Paisley, which shows both the destructive and tragic nature of alcohol abuse. As always, this post includes Chamorro lyrics and an English translation. Happy listening!
Siña etmås chatpago hu na’bunita
I can make the most ugly thing beautiful
Siña bai dagi hao ya un honggi
I can lie to you and you’ll believe it
Pat siña bai na’mumu hao yan otru na taotao
Or I can make you fight other people
Ya ti un kubåtdi
and you won’t be afraid
Ma gof tungo’ yu’ ni manhoben
I’m well known by the young people
ni manggaige på’gu gi seputtura
who are now in the cemetery
Ya ma gof guaiya yu’ gi sagan manggimen
And they love me in the bars
sa’ guahu munána’baila
because I make them dance
sa’ desdi ki ma intridus-ta
because from the time of our introduction
ti malago’ hao esta ma’aregla
you don’t want to get fixed
ti ya-mu masangåni, ti ya-mu esta lumache’
you don’t like to be told, you already don’t like to be wrong
ti malago’ hao esta makunseha
you don’t want to be advised already
hu na’ma’faia hao gi che’cho’-mu
I made you be fired at your job
sa’ sesso’ hao hu na’hangover
because I often made you hungover
ai bula memoriås-ta (gi) manmå’pos na tiempu
oh we have a lot of memories in times past
Lao ti un hasso’ yu’
but you don’t remember me
Si Atkahót i na’ån-hu (x2)
My name is Alcohol (x2)
ai guahu masokni gi fandanggo-mu
I was blamed at your wedding
na guahu tumutuhon i mimu
that I am the one who started the fight
ya annai pinatmåda hao ni asaguå-mu
And when you were slapped by your spouse
ai guahu tumutuhon eyu para hågu
Oh I am the one who started that for you
Ai bula mannákhilu hu na’fanggé’papa
oh many that are high up, I’ve brought them down
Bula rainu hu na’fandimu
I’ve brought many kingdoms to their knees
Ya bula familia hu distrosa lina’la’-ñiha
And I’ve destroyed the lives of many families
Ya siña låhi hao u ta’lu
And boy, it could happen again to you (you could be next)
Sa’ desdi ki hit na dos ma intridusi
Because from the time that the two of us were introduced
ti malago’ hao esta ma’arekla
You already don’t want to be helped
Ti ya-mu masangåni, ti ya-mu lumache’
You don’t like to be told, you don’t like to be wrong
Inusenti ha’ yu’ yan binenu: A speaker in our group said this translates to the English equivalent of “I’m pure poison.” Jay also offered the interpretation of “I’m just naive with (in matters of) poison.” ↩︎
Lengguahi-ta 