LOS ANGELES — When describing the work of Lin-Manuel Miranda, "simple" doesn't rush to mind. In his songs for "Encanto," for instance, his familiar verbal gymnastics grace "Surface Pressure" and layers of character and disparate Latin-influenced musical styles inform the breakout hit "We Don't Talk About Bruno." (All eight songs he wrote for the film recently charted — simultaneously ).
But this year, he received his second Oscar nomination for perhaps the simplest song in the collection: "Dos Oruguitas," his attempt at a "Colombian folk song that feels like it's always existed," as he previously told the Los Angeles Times. "It has to pass the test that one person who knows three chords can play the song."
With its story of two caterpillars in love and facing winds of change, the song almost passes that test. Maybe if he'd written it on guitar ...
