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Chapter 05

No One Wins Here

The kettle clicks off at eight. There are two cups beside the sink and a chair set out. The house still keeps a place for someone absent.

Listen to this song Complete album

From the first verse · 15:40

A cup on a wooden table and an empty chair in a quiet kitchen.
Everything is in its place, except the person who is missing. View full image ↗
THE LYRICS

Original lyrics and translation

Read the English original, the Spanish translation, or both texts stanza by stanza.

Verse 1The kettle still clicks off at eightTwo cups beside the sink
Verse 1El hervidor sigue apagándose a las ochoDos tazas junto al fregadero
One chair pulled out beneath the tableLike someone meant to sit
Una silla apartada de la mesaComo si alguien fuera a sentarse
A coat still hangs behind the doorThe keys are in the tray
Un abrigo sigue colgado detrás de la puertaLas llaves están en la bandeja
Everything is where it was
Todo está donde estaba
Except the oneWho walked away
Salvo quienSe marchó
Pre-ChorusOutsideThey count the numbers
Pre-ChorusFueraHacen cuentas
InsideWe count the days
DentroContamos los días
ChorusNo one wins here
ChorusAquí no gana nadie
Not in this room
No en esta habitación
Not with a bedThat still has space
No cuando en la camaSigue sobrando un sitio
Not with a phoneThat never rings
No mientras el teléfonoSiga sin sonar
Not with a nameWe cannot say
No cuando hay un nombreQue no podemos pronunciar
No one wins here
Aquí no gana nadie
Whatever they decide
Decidan lo que decidan
If someone has to disappearSo someone else can sayThey won
Si alguien tiene que desaparecerPara que otro pueda decirQue ha ganado
No one wins here
Aquí no gana nadie
Verse 2Across the town another houseKeeps dinner warm too long
Verse 2Al otro lado de la ciudad, otra casaMantiene la cena caliente hasta muy tarde
Someone wakes at every soundConvinced that they came home
Alguien se despierta con cada ruidoCreyendo que por fin ha vuelto
A photograph beside the stairsA message never read
Una fotografía junto a la escaleraUn mensaje que nunca se leyó
Different doorsDifferent prayers
Puertas distintasOraciones distintas
The same lightLeft on instead
La misma luzQue dejan encendida mientras esperan
Pre-ChorusOutsideThey choose the language
Pre-ChorusFueraEligen las palabras
InsideWe know the cost
DentroSabemos lo que cuesta
ChorusNo one wins here
ChorusAquí no gana nadie
Not in this room
No en esta habitación
Not with a bedThat still has space
No cuando en la camaSigue sobrando un sitio
Not with a phoneThat never rings
No mientras el teléfonoSiga sin sonar
Not with a nameWe cannot say
No cuando hay un nombreQue no podemos pronunciar
No one wins here
Aquí no gana nadie
Whatever they decide
Decidan lo que decidan
If someone has to disappearSo someone else can sayThey won
Si alguien tiene que desaparecerPara que otro pueda decirQue ha ganado
No one wins here
Aquí no gana nadie
BridgeTell me what victory looks like
BridgeDime cómo es esa victoria
Does it sleep at night?
¿Duerme por las noches?
Does it knowWhich shirt he wore?
¿SabeQué camisa llevaba él?
Does it hearHer footsteps in the hall?
¿OyeLos pasos de ella en el pasillo?
Can it sitAcross this empty chair
¿Puede sentarseFrente a esta silla vacía
And tell me
Y decirme
This was worth it?
Que esto mereció la pena?
BreakdownNo speeches
BreakdownSin discursos
No flags
Sin banderas
No numbers
Sin números
Just the room
Solo la habitación
Just the chair
Solo la silla
Just the peopleWho remain
Solo quienesSiguen aquí
Final ChorusNo one wins here
Final ChorusAquí no gana nadie
Not youNot me
Ni túNi yo
Not the onesWho learn to leave
Ni quienesAprenden a marcharse
Not the onesWho stay behind
Ni quienesSe quedan atrás
Not the onesWho choose the side
Ni quienesEligen un bando
No one wins here
Aquí no gana nadie
When the silence comes
Cuando llega el silencio
And every houseHas learned the shape
Y en cada casaSe reconoce el vacío
Of someoneWho is gone
De alguienQue ya no está
OutroThe kettle clicks off
OutroEl hervidor se apaga
Again
Otra vez
One cup
Esta vez
This time.
Una sola taza.
Notes on the translation

The kettle clicking off and the contrast between the two cups at the beginning and the single cup at the end are preserved.

The last image of the house is translated as a recognition of the space someone has left behind.

The translation accompanies the original lyrics, preserves their stanzas and is not adapted for singing.

What a house knows about loss

Editorial reading

The coat, the keys and the chair are still where they were. Absence is recognised in a room that remains arranged for the old life. Each object keeps a habit from which someone is now missing.

Outside the house, results are counted. Inside, the days pass. The title carries the word “win” into that room and leaves it before a phone that never rings, a bed with space, and a name that is difficult to say. The distance between those two languages sustains the song.

Across the city, a dinner has been kept warm for too long. Someone wakes at every sound. Different doors, different prayers; loss has its own routines there.

The kettle clicks off again at the end. This time there is one cup. Life continues in a gesture learned anew, while the second cup remains in the memory of the person preparing the first.

The lives left afterwards

The idea of victory can stay far from a house. There, consequences have hours, objects and people who will have to keep living with them. The song turns its attention to that later time, when the public account has ended and loss remains.

Recognising it in more than one house does not make responsibilities equivalent. It makes it harder to speak about a result without looking at those who paid its cost.

THE QUESTION THAT REMAINS

What victory can be explained before that empty chair?

After the song

The sound of the kettle returns. The habit must learn to continue with a single cup.

Listen to this song Complete album

From the first verse · 15:40

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