Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“Accounts of the Soul”
Album: Escenas (Scenes), 1985
Style: Storytelling salsa, salsa consciente (socially conscious salsa). Story of a boy who watches his mother waste her life away pining for his father who left them.
Country: Panama
Siempre en la noche
Mi mamá buscaba el sueño
Frente a la televisión,
Y me pedía que por favor,
No la apagara.
Always at night
My mother sought sleep
In front of the television,
And she’d ask me please,
Don’t turn it off.
“Ask me for the moon”, 1993
About: Tejano romantica. Love song dedicated to a life partner or long-term sweetheart on the way to becoming a life partner.
Country: USA (Texas)
Listen: YouTube
Las horas más lindas,
Las paso contigo, sí.
No quiero ni pensar si un día me faltas tú,
No quiero ni pensarlo, amor.
The most beautiful hours,
I pass them with you, yes.
I don’t even want to think about a day when you’re gone,
I don’t even want to think about it, my love.
“Eyes of Night”
Album: Eres Diamante (You’re A Diamond), 2017
Style: Bittersweet pop song about a girl who fell in love and got ghosted.
Country: Colombia; Mexico; USA
Listen: YouTube
Él siempre me recogía
Con su mirada de amante
Y me llevaba a lugares
Que yo no conocía
Cuando me recogía.
He always picked me up
With his gaze of a lover
And he took me to places
That I didn’t know
When he picked me up.
“It Is My Pleasure“
Style: Regional Mexican, mariachi love song of the 20th century. The lyrics declare that love is a pleasure that none but God can take away. Sung by many including Antonio Aguilar, Vicente Fernández, and more.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Mi gusto es,
¿Y quién me lo quitará?
Solamente Dios del cielo me lo quita.
Mi gusto es...
It is my pleasure,
And who will take it from me?
Only God in Heaven could take it.
It is my pleasure…
“Brown Eyes” Lyrics
Album: Eva, 2023
About: Pop song about a new relationship that seems perfect, but the singer can’t commit because he is not over his ex.
Country: Venezuela
Listen: YouTube
Es la primera vez
Que invito a alguien desde que te fuiste
Y estoy bien.
It’s the first time
That I ask someone out since you left
And I’m fine.
“Golden Times”
Album: Tiempos Dorados (Golden Times), 2025
Style: Nostalgic pop, reflective and sensual song.
Country: Mexico
Que vuelvan los tiempos dorados,
Los dulces futuros que tanto soñamos,
Que vuelva el misterio y el aburrimiento,
El no saber nada, el no saber nada.
Let them return, the golden times,
The sweet futures that we so dreamed of,
Let them return, the mystery and the boredom,
The not knowing anything, the not knowing anything.
“Morphine”
Album: Morfina (Morphine), 2025
Style: Alternative, indie. Introspective song about love and life. Per the artist, this song explores “el amor como una fuerza sanadora, casi medicinal” (love as a healing force, almost medicinal). The song is about how genuine connection can help overcome pain and insecurity. The music video shows a couple’s life from the start of their romance to their lives’ natural ends.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
No es real, yo pensar,
Que amar limitaba hasta ahí.
No volaba sin ti.
It isn’t real, I thought,
That loving stopped just before that.
I couldn’t fly without you.
“Pretty Woman”
Album: Más Futuro Que Pasado (More Future Than Past), 2019
Style: Pop love song about falling in love by accident after meeting a girl at a party. Lots of references to Colombian culture.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
No quería enamorarme
Y me fui de fiesta con mis amigos,
No pensé que encontrarte era mi destino.
I didn’t want to fall in love
And I went partying with my friends,
Didn’t think that finding you was my destiny.
“Remember Me” Lyrics Translation
Album: Balas perdidas (Stray bullets), 2018
About: Pop/rock, romantic, love song from a shy guy confessing his love and loyalty. This was a wedding request. Congrats to the happy couple!
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Quiero confesarte que ya tengo la certeza
De que tu recuerdo vive adentro de mi piel.
Tengo un corazón que está perdiendo la cabeza
Porque se dio cuenta que ha caído ante tus pies.
I want to confess to you that I am certain now
That memories of you live beneath my skin.
I have a heart that is losing its mind
Because it realized that it has fallen at your feet.
“She”
Album: Joel Nava (Joel Nava), 1995
About: Soft, slow melancholy song about accepting the end of a relationship. Acoustics and vocals only, very raw. It would be a good song for students to sing. It’s slow enough and will let you practice pronunciation.
Country: USA (Texas)
Listen: YouTube
Me cansé de rogarle,
Me cansé de decirle que yo sin ella
De pena muero.
I got tired of begging her,
I got tired of telling her that I, without her,
Of grief would die.
“Ghosts”
Album: fantasmas (ghosts), 2023
About: Soft melancholy pop with mariachi and folk elements. A song of nostalgia, grief, and pain that pulls into the abyss. A serenade to saudade. Trigger warning for dark thoughts of wanting to join the ghosts.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Del gran sueño
No me quiero despertar,
Y me falla
Un poco más mi realidad.
From this great dream,
I don’t want to wake,
And it fails me
A bit more, my reality.
“That Man” Lyrics
Album: Dicen Que Soy (They Say I Am), 1994
About: Salsa song about a bad man who hides behind fake kindness. An excellent song for adjectives to describe someone you don’t like.
Country: Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube
Ese hombre que tú ves ahí
Que parece tan galante,
Tan atento y arrogante,
Lo conozco como a mí.
That man that you see there
Who seems so gallant,
So attentive and arrogant,
I know him as I know myself.
Songlations 
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