"El baile de los que sobran" (Spanish for "The Dance of Those Left Out") is a song by the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros, written and composed by Jorge González. Released in 1986 as the third promotional single from the band's second studio album, Pateando piedras, it is a synth-pop and new wave track built around a borrowed drum machine, a sampled dog bark, and lyrics that address the class and educational inequality faced by young Chileans leaving secondary school with no prospects of further education or employment. The National Library of Chile has described it as one of the most emblematic songs of Chilean popular music of the 1980s, and it is widely regarded as the band's signature composition.
The song, and Los Prisioneros' music more broadly, became a symbol of resistance to Chile's military dictatorship, and it was subject to censorship as the 1988 plebiscite approached. Decades later, it resurfaced as an anthem of the 2019–2020 Chilean protests and was also sung during demonstrations in Colombia and celebrations following the 2020 plebiscite. In 2026, the Mexican rock band The Warning recorded a cover version for the Disney+ miniseries Dear Killer Nannies.
Background and composition Jorge González wrote "El baile de los que sobran" using a small drum machine lent to him by Miguel Conejeros of the band Pinochet Boys. Recalling the song's origins in a 2001 interview published on the band's official website, González said he did not initially expect it to have any lasting significance, and noted that the phrase "pateando piedras" ("kicking stones"), which also appeared in the earlier song "Exijo ser un héroe", was an expression he and drummer Miguel Tapia used regularly; the phrase went on to give the parent album its title.
González originally recorded the track with the drum machine and a Casio keyboard providing the bassline, aiming for a sound comparable to Heaven 17 and Depeche Mode. Dissatisfied with an early mix that used only the drum machine, he re-recorded the song at a faster tempo, added the sampled dog bark, and asked guitarist Claudio Narea to add classical guitar. González has said in interviews that the barking heard at the start of the song was sampled from his mother's pet dog, named Néstor. The band's manager, Carlos Fonseca, chose the song for release as a single in 1986.
The song exists in two officially released versions: the original 1986 recording included on Pateando piedras, and a re-recorded version included on the band's compilation album Grandes éxitos.
Lyrics and themes Written and composed entirely by González, the song presents pointed social criticism of the marginalization faced by young people after they leave formal education. Memoria Chilena, the digital heritage platform of the National Library of Chile, has written that the lyrics "bitterly and hopelessly" illustrate the class differences that existed among Chilean youth, and that long before poor income distribution became part of Chile's public debate, Los Prisioneros captured with painful accuracy what it meant to spend twelve years in a numbered public high school only to graduate into unemployment. The song is closely associated with Liceo Andrés Bello, the secondary school that inspired it, and with the final-year students it depicts as having no clear path forward once their schooling—referred to in the lyrics as "los doce juegos" ("the twelve games"), a reference to the twelve years of compulsory schooling—comes to an end.
Music videos Two music videos were produced for the song. The first, shot in black and white in 1986 and directed by Daniel de la Vega, intercuts archival footage of the band on tour with footage from the 1983 Star Wars arcade game and scenes depicting the atmosphere of dictatorship-era Chile, including Carabineros officers searching concertgoers. The video also features a couple dancing in the street, the woman played by Cecilia Aguayo, who later became the band's keyboardist. A second video, directed by Cristián Galaz in 1991, opens with González playing guitar alone in a room before cutting to footage of live performances by the band.
Personnel Credits adapted from the song's official release and contemporaneous sources: Jorge González – lead and backing vocals, synthesizers, sampler Claudio Narea – classical guitar, backing vocals Miguel Tapia – lead and backing vocals, drum machine (uncredited) Néstor (dog) – barking sample
Chart performance
Following its 1986 release, "El baile de los que sobran" appeared on regional pop-chart surveys compiled by wire services across Latin America: + Chart positions for "El baile de los que sobran" Chart (1987–1989) Peak position Chile (Associated Press) 5 Peru (United Press International) 1 Colombia (United Press International) 2
The song also ranked first among the most-streamed Chilean songs on Spotify in a 2019 report.
Use in politics and legacy
"El baile de los que sobran", along with other songs by Los Prisioneros, became a symbol of the struggle against the repression of the military dictatorship, its message resonating across generations and social classes. As the 1988 plebiscite approached, the band's music was increasingly subject to censorship, a trend that intensified after Los Prisioneros publicly declared their support for the "No" option.
The song became one of the anthems of the 2019–2020 Chilean protests, sung during marches and reproduced on banners and graffiti. Reflecting on the song's renewed prominence, González said it was "very sad" that it was still being sung, and that it "was created under the same conditions in which it was sung: under curfew and amid gunfire." Students in Colombia also sang the song amid the 2019–2020 national strike in that country. After the "Approve" (Apruebo) option won the 2020 Chilean national plebiscite, supporters sang the song in celebration in cities including Quillota and at the Plaza Baquedano in Santiago.
Music critics and outlets have continued to rank the song among the greatest in Chilean rock history; it was placed second, behind Los Tres' "Déjate caer", on a 2024 ranking of the 250 best Chilean rock songs compiled by the Chilean music outlet Rockaxis, which cited the song as evidence of long-standing, unresolved flaws in Chile's education system that continued to fuel protest movements decades later. The English-language outlet Sounds and Colours likewise included the song among its list of essential Chilean protest songs, noting that its modest origins as a demo built around a borrowed rhythm machine belied its eventual status as one of the most significant songs in Chilean music history. The song was also the closing number of González's final live performance, at the Cumbre del Rock Chileno festival at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago on January 7, 2017, an event widely covered in the Chilean press as a farewell to the stage.
Cover versions During the Lollapalooza Chile 2026 festival, the Mexican rock band The Warning performed a cover of "El baile de los que sobran." The band subsequently recorded a studio version of the cover, which was released in 2026 as part of the soundtrack to the Disney+ and Hulu miniseries Dear Killer Nannies: Criado por Sicarios, a series inspired by the childhood of Juan Pablo Escobar. The soundtrack, produced by Julio Reyes Copello for Universal Music Latino, reinterprets a selection of Latin American classics from the 1980s and also features artists such as Laura Pausini, Sebastián Yatra, and Morat; The Warning's rendition of the Los Prisioneros song was highlighted as one of the album's anchor tracks.
References
External links "El baile de los que sobran" on YouTube Song lyrics