The lyrics tell a story about Pedro Navaja, a street criminal who approaches a woman while she is carrying a hidden revolver. He attacks her, but she shoots him, and she too is fatally wounded. A drunk passerby takes their weapons and a little money, then walks away singing. The mood moves from tense observation to sudden violence, then to bleak, almost comic surprise.
Several details build suspense: Pedro keeps his hands inside his coat so no one can tell which holds a knife, while his gold tooth flashes as he smiles. The woman’s gun is something she carries for protection, but it does not save her. The repeated idea that “life gives you surprises” captures how events overturn expectations. The saying “he who kills by iron ends by iron” suggests that violence can return to harm the person who uses it.
The ending is both ironic and unsettling. Pedro seems to believe he has chosen an easy target, but he misjudges the danger; the woman’s own confidence in her weapon also proves misplaced. The drunk benefits from the deaths, showing how little justice or public compassion appears in this scene. The lyrics may suggest that chance, danger, and poverty shape people’s lives, but they do not explain the characters’ histories or make their choices entirely inevitable.