Here’s a post to share songs that are loosely related to autism. They don’t have to specifically mention autism, but be related to it in some fashion. It would be helpful if you include an explanation as to how you find it is related to autism and what the song means to you.
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Somos Abnormales by Residente (Spanish song by Puerto Rican artist)
- Video (VERY NSFW!!)
- Song with lyrics (safe for work)
Lyrics in Spanish:
spoiler
Tres ojos, cuatro orejas
Mucho pelo entre medio de las cejas
Con los cachetes, llenos de granos
Sin brazos ni piernas como los gusanos
Imperfecciones en todos los lugares
Cicatrices, jorobas, lunares
Juanetes, en los dos pies
Con ocho dedos, en vez de diez
Blanco, que se te ve la venas del cerebro
Como café, sin leche, bien negro
Mal distribuido como las vacas
Mucha barriga pero con las patas flacas
Cabeza grande, cuerpo chiquito
Celuliticos, los muslos blanditos
Mucho labio, bembón o bembona
Una nariz que parece otra persona
Aquí todos somos deformes
Y nos resistimos a usar uniforme
Lo más feo de la flor es el tallo
La belleza se alimenta de fallos
Cómo nos vemos curiosos
Ponemos a los lindos nerviosos
Que toda la gente nos señale
Lo que no es igual, sobresale
Soy Anormal
Somos anormales
Lo que me gusta de ti
Es que tu eres anormal
Nuestra sexualidad se despierta
El ADN con las piernas abiertas
Los cromosomas bailando bolero
Las hormonas con hambre
Lamiéndose los cueros
Y procreamos una cosa bien rara
Como nosotros pero con otra cara
Nuestra genética, un laberinto
Somos igual de distintos
Lo que se mezcla es más interesante
Como una mosca con orejas de elefante
Los colores se triplican, nadie pierde
Amarillo con azul hacen verde
Original, no lo pueden copiar
Lo que es impuro no se puede duplicar
La raza se arregla, cuando se daña
Somos de la tribu que con sucio se baña!
Soy Anormal
Somos anormales
Lo que me gusta de ti
Es que tu eres anormal
Soy Anormal
Lyrics translate to English:
spoiler
Three eyes, four ears
Much hair between the eyebrows
With the cheeks full of pimples
Without arms or legs, like worms
Imperfections everywhere
Scars, humps, moles
Bunions on both feet
With eight fingers instead of ten
So white that the veins of your brains are visible
Like coffee, without milk, very black
Poor body mass distribution like cows
A big belly but with skinny legs
Big head, small body
Cellulitis with soft thighs
Big lips, bembón or bembona (terms for big lipped man and woman)
A nose that looks like another person
Here we are all deformed
And we resist using uniforms
The ugliest part of the flower is the stem
Beauty feeds on mistakes
Because we look curious
We make the pretty people nervous
Let all the people point at us
What isn’t the same stands out
I’m abnormal! I’m abnormal! I’m abnormal!
We are abnormal
What I like about you
Is that you are abnormal
I’m abnormal! I’m abnormal! I’m abnormal!
We are abnormal
What I like about you
Is that you are abnormal.
Our sexuality awakens
The DNA with spread legs
The chromosomes dancing bolero
The hungry hormones licking their leathers
And we procreate a very strange thing
Like ourselves but with another face
Our genetics, a labyrinth
We are equally different
What gets mixed up is more interesting
Like a fly with elephant ears
The colors triplicate, no one loses
Yellow with blue make green
Original, it cannot be copied
What is impure cannot be duplicated
The race fixes itself when it is damaged
We are the tribe that washes with dirt
I’m abnormal! I’m abnormal! I’m abnormal! We are abnormal What I like about you Is that you are abnormal
I’m abnormal
I share this songs for several reasons:
One, the artist is openly autistic, saying in one of his songs that he was diagnosed as a kid. To me, it seems like he also takes special effort to be authentic and engage in his uniqueness without any shame.
Two, the song is called “We’re Abnormals”. My Hispanophone family nicknamed me Arnold Mal, which was pretty clever on multiple levels. I was the first American-born and native Anglophone in the family, so the name Arnold was fitting in that they saw it as an English name. Also, when read in Spanish, “Arnold Mal” sounds like they are calling me abnormal. That was fitting because I was definitely the weirdo of the family. Before diagnosis, it made sense since I grew up with my father’s side of the family, yet stuck out as being oddly different from them. They often told me that I reminded them of my mother my entire life. I had embraced it because I was proud to not take after a lot of their traits, which I found did not match well with my ethical standards. After diagnosis, it makes even much more sense since I’m autistic and they aren’t (bonus: my mother was very likely autistic). I stuck out for being odd in my manner of doing things, preferring order, limited socialization compared to them, interacting softly, and having a strong moral code. Related to the strong moral code, the artist has a history of composing songs that stand up for underdogs and disadvantaged people, which I can relate to my whole life.
Three, because of my experiences and projecting that onto the artist, I see it as him having similar experiences, probably being labelled as abnormal since childhood. By the way, abnormal is a common term for those that aren’t neurotypical in Latin America. He taking on the identity as if saying, “If I’m abnormal, then I’m going to be proud of being abnormal with all my other abnormals,” then, celebrating being abnormal and its benefits. Basically, the song is about being prideful of being different, and I love that. Ultimately, the song is about being proud of being you, especially if you’re abnormal 🥹
Four, the song also has lyrics that relate to common autistic traits.
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“We resist using uniforms,” which is common among autistics to resist conformity.
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“Because we look curious.” Special interests! But also confused in social situations and I know I have a staring problem when I try to figure people out.
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“What I like about you is that you are abnormal.” Yep! I naturally gravitate to autistics, even before knowing I was autistic. But also, there’s research to support that with the concept of the double-empathy theory that argues that autistic people aren’t lacking empathy, they’re just better at empathizing with other autistics. The same goes for neurotypical people in that they also empathize better with other allistics.
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“Our sexuality awakens, the DNA with spread legs.” I’ve read that autistic people tend to have atypical sexual preferences, from asexuality to uncommon kinks.
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“Our genetics, a labyrinth.” This reminds me of the autism evaluation process when the evaluator tried to figure out who else in my family was autistic.
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“We are equally different”. Yeah, we’re just different. No worse, no better.
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“What gets mixed up is more interesting…What I like about you is that you are abnormal.” To me, autistic people tend to be much more interesting. They have their uniqueness and special interests.
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“I’m abnormal.” I’m Arnold Mal, and I’m abnormal.