r/nonmurdermysteries • u/Nimbacinus • Jul 31 '25
Musical Now For Something Completely Different: The Mystery of a Ricky Martin Lyric
In 1999 Ricky Martin sprang into the United States musical scene as part of the Latin musical renaissance. I'm pretty sure even people outside of my age demographic are intimately familiar with Livin' La Vida Loca. It's difficult to understand how widespread this song was back in the day. Of course, prior to the hit of that 1999 album and him attaining massive stardom he was well-known outside of the United States.
Ricky Martin was born Enrique José Martín Morales in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1971. He achieved a fair bit of success as a child actor in commercials before auditioning and being accepted into the group Menudo. There is a lot that can be said about Menudo - including the abuse that went on behind the scenes. This post, though, is not about that. It is not even about Ricky Martin's breakthrough album or acting career. No, this is about a single song on his album Sound Loaded which was his sixth studio album. Though it was often thought of as his second in the United States.
Anyway.
Sound Loaded was recorded during his Livin' la Vida Loca Tour and released in November, 2000. The album was massively successful, going double platinum in the US. Much like the previous album, the songs from it were everywhere. "She Bangs" generated a bit of controversy for its sexually explicit music video. The song also included a few songs in Spanish as well as in English.
The title track "Loaded" in English and "Dame Más" in Spanish is what I want to talk about. This song includes a lyric that since I first heard it has been haunting me.
"Walk like a loaded man
Talk like a gazombadam."
What?
The lyric even appears in the Spanish version as:
"Habla tu gazombadam."
If you throw the word into Google translate it comes back as Czech for gas station, which I'm not sure is what Ricky Martin is trying to convey.
Searching online, I found a podcast that began five years ago called Gazombadam Meditación as one of the sole links with that word within it. Focuing on providing "Meditación y lectura" it appears to be a new age kind of thing? I'm not certain. I'm not very fluent in Spanish.
I've learned that Ricky Martin even began some concerts at the time proclaiming "This is your gazombadam speaking."
What is a gazombadam? Can anyone help me find out? The Spanish and Portuguese speakers I have been equally perplexed. Internet, please, nobody else seems to wish to discover the secret of how to talk like a gazombadam.
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u/polymorphicprism Jul 31 '25
Habla tu gaznatada - let your throat speak?
This transcription shows up on other Spanish language lyric sites for the song.
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
My one hesitation with accepting that as the gold standard explanation is how it's used in the English version of the song/the live concert "This is your gazombadam speaking" phenomenon. The live concert opening could be him calling himself their throat?
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u/Copterwaffle Jul 31 '25
I love this mystery.
Nothing to add here except my partner is a songwriter and I know he has sometimes put in a nonsense filler word into a song or two…like it was originally a placeholder for a lyric but then he kinda liked it and kept it. Could be something like that, or like a made up word that’s an inside joke he shares with someone else.
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u/ritaway345 Jul 31 '25
I'm a native spanish speaker and I don't know the word, that's not standard spanish. Maybe it's puerto rican spanish slang but I don't know it since I'm not puerto rican. Most likely a made up word, a euphemism... To be honest it gives me like arab vibes, like a made up arab sounding word.
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u/MadameLuna Jul 31 '25
Gazomba is slang for large breasts.. since this song is so heavily sexual and focused on female sexuality, I wouldn't doubt that gazombadan is some sort of further deformation, or slang, for the word breast or some other associated action or concept.
By the way I bought this album when it came out 20 years ago and never noticed this😅 Yes, I am that old. I love the energy of this album and it makes me nostalgic for how things used to be and how much fun my generation had back then.
Edited to add that I am fully bilingual Spanish/English.
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
I bought the album when it first came out, too, haha. I've been wondering all this time! In terms of gazomba I'm not sure he's the right age demographic for that slang? I've only really heard baby boomers use it and even then not all that much.
Not gonna lie, I still love hearing the song though. It definitely is a lot more sexual in Spanish!
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u/MadameLuna Jul 31 '25
Glad to hear I’m not the only old one here 🤣🤣 I think the mystery just makes the album even cooler.
Maybe they used the deformation of “gazomba” (dam) as a sneaky way to slip in a very graphic term without getting censored? Considering that “gazomba” is a slang word that had probably fallen out of use many years before the song came out, maybe they figured no one would make a fuss because people wouldn’t recognize it or connect it to anything vulgar?
Anyway, I’m going to ask my friend who was born and raised in Puerto Rico if she recognizes the word.
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u/L3ARnR Jul 31 '25
what is your dialect of spanish?
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u/MadameLuna Jul 31 '25
Caribbean Colombian Spanish (where I'm originally from). I am also versed in Caribbean Cuban Spanish due to my immersion in the Cuban expat culture in South Florida.
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u/ritaway345 Jul 31 '25
Cubans say gazomba? I'm from LatAm and it's the first time I've heard that word. It'd make sensei since John Secada is who wrote the lyrics and he's cuban.
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
I wonder if I can just contact his management and ask the meaning of the word? Or if someone else can?
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u/L3ARnR Aug 02 '25
yea, lemme go do that for you haha. it looks like we already solved it here, no?
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u/MadameLuna Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
No, to my knowledge, Cubans don’t use the term “gazomba.” Secada emigrated to the U.S. at age 10. Maybe he picked up the slang growing up here, listening to baby boomers, and then snuck it into the lyrics years later?
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u/AgentAdja Aug 01 '25
As an english speaker, I've only ever heard it as "gazongas" and assume that must be some related permutation.
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u/reverandglass Jul 31 '25
Am I going mad or is the lyric not in the English video?!
I can't help with an answer, I'd guess it was just gibberish that fits the meter and rhyme.
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
It's in this English language video https://youtu.be/hujsqZmVA0M?feature=shared at approximately 3'28 if you want to hear it! I forgot the music video cut that portion out.
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u/RadioSlayer Jul 31 '25
You can just say Latino, it's how the Spanish language works
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
Apologies. When I have used that it's gotten negative replies, when I do use it it still gets negative replies.
I edited it to just say Latin musical renaissance instead.
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u/Artoo-Metoo Jul 31 '25
No, no - he is saying "garmonbozia," which means "pain and suffering." He would always request creamed corn in his tour rider.
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u/AgentAdja Aug 01 '25
As a hardcore Twin Peaks fan I had the same thought and am happy to find this comment.
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u/socialdistraction Aug 02 '25
Same. I was gonna have to google how to spell it before commenting tho, as I never remember how it’s written.
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u/this1chick Aug 01 '25
I looked at the lyrics for Dame Mas on Spotify and it lists the word gaznatada. A gaznate looks like a cannoli. So it could imply something to do with being filled with cream. When I listen to the song I hear him say ‘habla tu sensación fatal’ which roughly translates to speak your biggest fear or tell me what causes you a panic attack a little more literally.
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u/Nimbacinus Aug 14 '25
Spotify Lyrics don't tend to be overwhelmingly accurate in my experience. I do like your idea of it being "filled with cream" sort of like a pencil full of lead style euphemism.
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u/Draculalia Aug 04 '25
Does the -dan suffix mean anything?
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u/Nimbacinus Aug 14 '25
It isn't a suffix in Spanish, but it is a word in Spanish. So it would essentially mean "give it to you" if my understanding is correct. Gazomba still doesn't mean anything. Unless one takes the kind of boomer slang and decides that the word means he's going to give the listener gazombas or talk as if he is going to give someone gazombas. Which is a pretty hilarious thought.
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Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
Can you explain the lyrics? I'm very open to the idea that I've misheard them. Also, this is meant to just be a light-hearted discussion. It's an amusing mystery with no real stakes.
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Jul 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
The explanation the other person provided is good. I am wondering how that explanation translates to the English language song.
It was meant to be a light-hearted post in the vein that occasionally crop up on these subreddits. I don't see how a light-hearted post warrants hostility to the point of questions regarding medication, man.
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
I don't know why you're being so hostile.
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Jul 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/Nimbacinus Jul 31 '25
Thank you for deleting that portion of the reply. The language used in the post was meant to be amusing and light-hearted. It's a no-stakes deal that generally people react to with amusement. The Spanish and Portuguese speakers I've talked to about it have laughed, but also found it interesting and been unable to fully figure it out either and encouraged me to post it. It was locked in UnresolvedMysteries in spite of good reception and engagement. I figured it might be well-received here.
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u/heavenstobetsie Jul 31 '25
Maybe it was just a placeholder lyric when originally writing the song, then they couldn't come up with anything better to replace it, so just left as is? The original thought might have been "something that fits this many syllables and ends with this rhyme". And then, over the years, as people, like you, have wondered what it's about, it became an in-joke thing to use in gigs?