Political protest in Joaquín Sabina's songbook: "no theme" analysis and reflections on an apolitical engagement

This article analyses a very shallow studied dimension of Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquin Sabina's lyrics, since it questions where political protest, a key theme in the work of the Spanish singer-song writers of his generation, remains in his songbook. Based on this question, some lyrics from Inventario(1978), his very first album and therefore the closest to the period of the protest song, are examined to compare his attitude with that of that of these other singer-song writers. Afterwards, attention focuses on the rest of his songbook to discover how the penchant for political engagement was soon lost. Finally, it is explained that the engagement in Sabina's songbook is more related to the defence, through its representation, of the life that began in Spain after the end of the Francoist dictatorship.