Les Toros

The song portrays a bullfight as a Sunday spectacle in which people enjoy watching bulls suffer and die. Its emotional movement grows darker: first the bulls seem bored and exposed, then the crowd gathers excitedly, and finally it stands up in triumph after the fatal sword thrust. The contrast makes the audience’s pleasure seem unsettling, especially because the bulls’ inner thoughts remain unknown.

Several images show how the crowd enters the drama through fantasy. Ordinary shopkeepers imagine themselves as famous lovers, poets, or conquerors; English women imagine themselves as literary or historical figures. These playful comparisons suggest that spectators use the bullfight to feel grand or heroic. The bull that suddenly realizes it is “naked” may represent an animal made helpless and vulnerable before everyone. The references to Carthage, Waterloo, and Verdun evoke famous defeats and battles, widening the song’s focus from one arena to human violence more broadly.

The repeated questions about what bulls think and dream invite sympathy without pretending to answer for them. The ending is deliberately uncertain: perhaps the dying bulls imagine a hell for people, or perhaps they forgive humanity. That choice between revenge and forgiveness leaves listeners with a moral question rather than a simple verdict. The song can be read as criticizing cruelty and spectatorship, while its humor also exposes how readily people turn suffering into a grand performance.