No, it’s not El Gran Combo. But it sounds just like them.
There’s a new parody song and video about the man chicken protesting Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo who was arrested at Maurice Ferre Park at the grand opening of the dog and cat sculptures walk last month. The video was posted this week on YouTube. This one is in Spanish, sung to the tune of Don Goyo, a popular salsa number interpreted by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico in 1971, and a staple at many 80s quinceñeras.
Except without the clucking chickens in the background.
And, also, the lyrics are different. They were rewritten by political agitator Emiliano Antuñez, and we know that not just because the video was posted on his Dark Horse Strategies channel but also because he’s one of the few local campaign operatives who would know and understand how perfect the reference is. And because he’s capable of something like this. Bold. Creative. Funny. Aggressive.
Ladra hopes we’ll be hearing it on the radio soon. I’d put it on my playlist.
Read related: Protest ‘chicken’ arrested at Miami park opening for dogs, cats and Joe Carollo
The words just don’t hit the same in English, so it’s not even really worth translating. Well, not all of it. There are parts that say the chicken was jailed “because of his wife’s dogs… and now they’re asking who paid for them.”
The song refers to the dog and cat sculptures that dot the park and that Commissioner Carollo commissioned in March of 2021. The city paid almost $900,000 for them, with no public review process. Carollo came to a meeting of the Bayfront Trust one day and said we’re doing this — and they did. One board member resigned in protest. Only one. It’s really the kind of thing that should have raised everyone’s eyebrows.
And that’s what the five protesters at the event wanted to do: Raise eyebrows.
Dressed like chickens — because Carollo is a coward? — they wove around the crowd, handing out “wifebeater” tank tops with Carollo’s mugshot on them from his 2001 arrest on domestic violence charges with a different wife. Police say the chickens were causing a distraction and asked them to leave. They also say that Morgan Gianola, a graduate scholar and professor at the University of Miami, was arrested.
Read related: Miami park protest arrest leads to Joe ‘Pollo Carollo’ t-shirts, mugs, cap
“Yo no estaba con los pollos, cuando se enojo Carollo,” translates to “I wasn’t with the chickens when Carollo got pissed off.” But it doesn’t hit the same.
“Que pregunten, que pregunten, y averigüen lo del robo,” the lead singer croons “Go and ask, ask bout the robbery.” The $900K robbery.
And when the singer croons “las malas lenguas” its not an homage to Ladra. Those are really the words to the original song.
But the 2-minute and 48-second video is worth watching — even if you don’t understand every word, you’ll enjoy the photoshopped images of Carollo and his wife dancing salsa in front of City Hall.
The song is dance worthy.
Another Joe Carollo pollo parody hits the web — this time it’s en español added by Ladra on
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