El preso número nueve - Question

[Markhillis]

This question has bugged me for ages.
I have always loved Joan Baez' version of El Preso Numero Nueve.
As I have studied Spanish I understand all of it but I cant wrap my head around the grammar of the very first line:
El preso numero nueve, ya lo van a confesar...
I know that they are taking him to confession but it seems to translate
"now they are going to confess it"
Can someone help me with this?

[poli]

This question has bugged me for ages.
I have always loved Joan Baez' version of El Preso Numero Nueve.
As I have studied Spanish I understand all of it but I cant wrap my head around the grammar of the very first line:
El preso numero nueve, ya lo van a confesar...
I know that they are taking him to confession but it seems to translate
"now they are going to confess it"
Can someone help me with this?
I don't know this song, and perhaps the line needs more context, but I assume coming from Joan Baez it is a protest song. If it is a commentary of corrupt harsh prison systems, then the line most likely means: now they are going to make him confess whether the prisoner commited the crime or not. It will be confession via cohersion or torture I assume.

[Markhillis]

No, it's actually an old folk ballad.
He is being taken to confession because he killed his wife and her lover.

[JPablo]

I just saw the lyrics of the song, and simply means they are going to give him the sacrament of confession as in "administer the last sacraments" before the execution. The guy is not afraid nor remorseful of having killed his wife and lover... and so he confess it to the priest... in the morning the guy is getting executed...

[Markhillis]

But doesn't "van a confesar" mean THEY are going to confess?
The context is either that he is going to confess, or that they are
taking him to confession.
I'm confused on the grammar.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

He's the one confessing, but to a priest, not the police, as he has already been condemned to death.
This "they" is just some impersonal formula used colloquially.

Oh, by the way, original lyrics say "Al preso número nueve ya lo van a confesar", which makes much more sense. :)

[JPablo]

Right, Angelica is spot on (as usual)... "The prisoner number nine is about to be taken for his confession"...

I take your confusion is that literally it says "they are going to confess him", but what it means is that "he is about to do his confession [to a priest] to be ready for his execution."

DRAE gives
confesar 4. tr. Dicho de un confesor: Oír al penitente en el sacramento de la penitencia.

That is, while no "priest" is explicitly mentioned (as the Spanish "lo van a confesar" is "impersonal") it is implied that the "confessor" is going "to hear the penitent in his confession".

(Hope this fully clarifies, but let us know if otherwise!)

[Markhillis]

Thanks for all of your input. I understand what you are saying...just wish it fit more neatly into my spanish grammar "box" but thats not the way it works is it?
If you get a chance youtube it sometime and give a listen...really catchy.

[JPablo]

Yes, it is an excellent song and she (Joan B) is definitely putting some emotion to it...

By the way, in English you also have the same sense for "confess"

4. (of a priest) to hear the confession of (a person). (Random House)

So, if I am a priest and "I am going to confess you" I am not going to tell you any of my sins... but I am going to hear yours...

The song would be "they are going to confess him"...

Probably, more than the "grammar" aspect of the sentence, may be the usage of the word in this sense... (At any rate, I hope it helps!)

[Markhillis]

Oh wow...I just got it. I've never heard it used that way but now it makes Perfect sense to me. Thank you so much.

[JPablo]

Ok, you're welcome! :)

[Zvia]

El preso numero nueve
George Dalaras version makes sense.
you can find the lyrics he sings at <removed>
They are different from those posted by others.

[Tomisimo]

El preso numero nueve
George Dalaras version makes sense.
you can find the lyrics he sings at <removed>
They are different from those posted by others.

Welcome to the forums.

Please review the terms of service and refrain from posting inappropriate links.

[pinosilano]

Oh, by the way, original lyrics say "Al preso número nueve ya lo van a confesar", which makes much more sense. :) Hola amigos, apenas leí la pregunta de este hilo, me pareció raro el artículo 'EL' y me puse a buscar con Google la canción. En ninguna pagina que encontré aparece el artículo 'AL'. Menos mal que Angélica lo logró y dió sentido a la frase.

Encontré la traducción en italiano, que cambia a versión: Il prigioniero numero nove non verrà fatto confessare El prisionero número nueve no recibirá el sacramento de la confesión porque no se ha arrepentido de lo que hizo.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Pino: Es una canción que se escuchaba mucho entre gente a la que frecuentaba cuando era joven. ;)

[Henry Gale]

He's the one confessing, but to a priest, not the police, as he has already been condemned to death.
This "they" is just some impersonal formula used colloquially.

Oh, by the way, original lyrics say "Al preso número nueve ya lo van a confesar", which makes much more sense. :)

Also -- I'm coming into this discussion late, so excuse me if this has been answered already -- but the sense I get is that he will be confessed BY these other people (police, the priest). I know that in English, the idea of absolution is almost always passive, as in "I was absolved of all my sins." My literal translation here might be something along the lines of, "They are going to confess him," and my not-so-literal translation would be closer to, "They are taking him to confession."

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Henry: "Confesar a alguien" is used only in the sense that a Catholic priest will hear someone's sins (there is also a figurative use of this formula, but here, it's not the case).
When the police hears a confession, or when someone avows something to someone else, then the subject confessing is clear. :)
- María me confesó que está enamorada de Pedro.
- Te confieso que me gustan mucho los chocolates.
- El ladrón no quiere confesar que mató al dueño de la tienda.
- Police detective talking: "¿Vas a confesar de una vez?"


The whole stanza of this song goes like this:

Al preso número nueve, ya lo van a confesar
Está encerrado en su celda con el cura del penal.
Y antes del amanecer la vida le han de quitar
Porque mató a su mujer y a un amigo desleal.

The "they" from "ya lo van a confesar" is, more than a subject, an impersonal form, a generalization, that somehow conveys that when anyone is in jail, and will confess to a priest, it's because they will be executed next.
As far as I know, the verb works the same way in English; for example in "the priest confessed the criminal", so your first proposal would work alright if the next line wouldn't say who will hear his sins. Probably a better translation would be something similar to: "the prisoner is going to be confessed". The passive voice in Spanish is not heard as often as in English, but we do use plenty of impersonal forms, whose equivalent in English is commonly the passive voice. :)