“Pedro Navaja” (“Peter Razor”) is Panamanian singer and songwriter Rubén Blades’ signature tune. For those of you who don’t know about it, it’s basically a Latin version of “Mack The Knife”. The lyrics tell the story of Peter Razor, a thief who tries to rob a prostitute in the streets of NYC. But when he stabs her to death, she fires the .38 S&W Special she carries “for it to keep her safe from all evil” and also kills him. The song ends with a news report about two people found dead in the streets of New York.

Originally released in 1978 on the album “Siembra” (“Sow”) by Willie Colón and Rubén Blades, perhaps the most important salsa album ever produced. In 1990, Blades released a live album with his band Son Del Solar which of course includes this song, recorded on October 29 & 30, 1989, at the Lone Star Roadhouse in New York City. Here you can compare the differences between an original German pressing and an original Colombian pressing of the album.

You can click on the following time marks to quickly jump between pressings:

(00:00) Video intro

-(00:42) Original German pressing 01
-(01:32) Original German pressing 02
-(02:30) Original German pressing 03
-(02:49) Original German pressing 04
-(03:00) Original German pressing 05
-(03:28) Original German pressing 06
-(03:54) Original German pressing 07
-(04:19) Original German pressing 08
-(04:45) Original German pressing 09
-(05:07) Original German pressing 10
-(05:30) Original German pressing 11
-(05:51) Original German pressing 12
-(06:12) Original German pressing 13
-(06:33) Original German pressing 14
-(06:54) Original German pressing 15
-(07:15) Original German pressing 16
-(07:58) Original German pressing 17
-(08:11) Original German pressing 18
-(08:25) Original German pressing 19
-(08:46) Original German pressing 20
-(08:54) Original German pressing 21
-(09:39) Original German pressing 22

-(10:21) Original Colombian pressing 01
-(11:07) Original Colombian pressing 02
-(12:04) Original Colombian pressing 03
-(12:24) Original Colombian pressing 04
-(12:35) Original Colombian pressing 05
-(13:02) Original Colombian pressing 06
-(13:29) Original Colombian pressing 07
-(13:55) Original Colombian pressing 08
-(14:20) Original Colombian pressing 09
-(14:42) Original Colombian pressing 10
-(15:05) Original Colombian pressing 11
-(15:26) Original Colombian pressing 12
-(15:48) Original Colombian pressing 13
-(16:09) Original Colombian pressing 14
-(16:30) Original Colombian pressing 15
-(16:51) Original Colombian pressing 16
-(17:34) Original Colombian pressing 17
-(17:48) Original Colombian pressing 18
-(18:01) Original Colombian pressing 19
-(18:23) Original Colombian pressing 20
-(18:31) Original Colombian pressing 21
-(19:16) Original Colombian pressing 22

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