Cumbiera Intelectual
Kevin Johansen
Intellectual Cumbia
I met her in a crowded dance hall
We bumped into each other, but I was the one who blushed
Her dance was different and unique
And there was an intelligent spark in her eyes
When I asked her to dance with me
She started talking about Jung, Freud, and Lacan
My idiosyncrasy amused her a lot
She said as we spun, the intellectual cumbia
She said as we spun
That intellectual cumbia
Jung, Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Goethe, Beckett
Cosmos, Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Guggenheim
She was studying a little-known career
Something related to literature and philosophy
Her swaying was lovely and bewitching
And her lynx eyes pierced through me
When I tried to put my arm around her
She started talking about Miller, Anais Nin, and Picasso
And if I dared to steal a kiss
She would start reading verses from Neruda
The intellectual cumbia hurt me a lot
I can't forget her
That intellectual cumbia
Paul Klee, Ante Garmaz, Kandinsky, Diego, Frida
Tolstoy, Bolshoi, Terry Gilliam, William Shakespeare
If I said: Let's go to the movies, babe
She would say: Let's watch a Kusturica film
If I said: Let's smell the flowers
She would talk about Virginia Woolf and her loves
The intellectual cumbia hurt me a lot
I can't forget her
That intellectual cumbia
I asked her to teach me how to use the mouse
But she only wants to talk about Bauhaus
I asked her if she was a thief or a rocker
She said: Gertrude Stein was very lesbian
I can't forget her
I don't want you to think so much, intellectual cumbia!
I'm going to pray to your saint so you can let go
So you can be more normal
(Jarmusch, Cousteau, Cocteau, Artaud, Maguy Marin
Twyla Tharp, Gilda, Visconti, Gismonti)
I learned about a certain Hesse and a Thomas Mann
And all about existentialism in Paraguay
And she keeps lecturing me all day
Although luckily, from time to time, her body breathes
Her body breathes, her body breathes
I don't want you to think so much, intellectual cumbia
I'm going to pray to your saint, so you can be more normal
So you can let go
Little cumbia girl, how I love her
