“Dare-are-are” Lyrics Translation
Album: Calle 13, 2005
Style: Urban, hip hop and reggaeton fusion. The music video won “Best Short Form Music Video” at the 2006 Latin Grammy Awards.
Country: Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube (Explicit)
Translation:
REFRAIN:
————————————–
Atrévete-te-te salte del closet,
Destápate, quítate el esmalte.
Deja de taparte que nadie va a retratarte.
Levántate ponte hiper.
Dare-dare-dare, get out of your closet*,
Uncover yourself, take off your nail polish.
Stop covering yourself ‘cuz no one’s gonna take your picture.
Get up, make yourself hyper.
Préndete, sácale chispa al estalter,
Préndete en fuego como un lighter,
Sacúdete el sudor como si fueras un wiper,
Que tú eres callejera*, street fighter.
Light yourself, draw sparks from the starter,
Light yourself on fire like a lighter,
Shake off your sweat like if you were a wiper,
‘Cause you’re a street girl, a street fighter.
—————————————
Cambia esa cara de seria,
Esa cara de intelectual de enciclopedia
Que te voy a inyectar con la bacteria
Pa’ que des vueltas como machina de feria.
Change that serious face,
That face of an intellectual, of an encyclopedia
Because I’m going to inject you with the bacteria
So you’ll make turns like a ferris wheel.
Señorita intelectual,
Ya sé que tienes el área abdominal
Que va a explotar como fiesta patronal
Que va a explotar como palestino.
Miss intellectual,
I know you have an abdominal area
That’s going to explode like a patronage party
That’s going to explode like a Palestinian.
(**DISCLAIMERS: The mentality of the lyrics does not reflect the mentality of songlations! Thank you!**)
Yo sé que a ti te gusta el pop rock latino
Pero este reggaeton se te mete por los intestinos,
Por debajo de la falda como un submarino
Y te saca lo de indio taino.
I know that you like Latin Pop/Rock
But this Reggaeton gets into you through the intestines,
(Goes) beneath the skirt like a submarine
And brings out the Taino Indian in you.
Ya tú sabes en taparrabo, mamá,
En el nombre de agueymana no hay más na’,
Para na’ q’ yo te voy a mentir
Yo sé que yo también quiero consumir de tu perejil.
You already know (what’s behind the) loincloth, mama,
In the name of Agüeybaná there’s no more nothin’
No reason, how would I lie to you?
I know that I too would like to consume your parsley*.
Y tú viniste amazónica como Brasil,
Tú viniste a matarlas como Kill Bill,
Tú viniste a beber cerveza de barril,
Tú sabes que conmigo tú tienes refill.
And you came here Amazonic like Brazil,
You came to slaughter them like Kill Bill,
You came to drink beer on tap,
You know that with me you have refill.
[REFRAIN]
Hello, deja el show*,
Súbete la mini falda hasta la espalda.
Súbetela, deja el show, más alta
Que ahora vamos a bailar por to’a la jalda*.
Hello, drop the act,
Raise your miniskirt up to your back.
Raise it, drop the act, higher
Because now we’re gonna dance around the ledge.
Mera nena ¿quieres un sipi?*
No importa si eres rapera o eres hippie,
Si eres de Bayamón o de Guaynabo City,
Conmigo no te pongas picky.
Esto es hasta abajo, cójele el tricky.*
Now sweetie, you want your sippy,
Doesn’t matter if you’re a rapper or a hippie,
If you’re from Bayamón or from Guaynabo City,
With me, don’t get picky.
This goes to the bottom, pick up your tricky.
Esto es fácil, esto es un mamey,
Que importa si te gusta Green Day,
Que importa si te gusta Coldplay,
Esto es directo sin parar one way.
This is easy, this is a breeze*,
Who cares if you like Green Day,
Who cares if you like Coldplay,
This is direct, without stopping, one way.
Yo te lo juro de que por ley
Aquí to’as las boricuas saben karate,
Ellas cocina con salsa de tomate,
Mojan el arroz con un poco de aguacate.
Pa’ cosechar nalgas de 14 quilates.
I swear to you that by law
Here all the Boricuas* know karate,
They cook with tomato sauce,
Wet the rice with a bit of avocado
To harvest asses of 14 karats.
[REFRAIN x2]
Translation Notes:
If you are familiar with Puerto Rican Spanish, feel free to give suggestions for any line marked “[EDIT]”. I speak Mexican Spanish, so even if I get the general meaning of the slang… some parts are difficult to translate definitively.
Update 2/20/2023: There were no official lyrics online in 2008 when I first translated the song, so I had to correct the Spanish lyrics myself before I translated them. I was still unsure about some of them, but helpful reader comments allowed me to make several edits over the years. Thank you everyone for your help with the transcription and slang.
I moved the song to songlations.com on 2/20/2023. I updated some links, corrected some lyrics, and expanded the translation notes. Read the original LiveJournal page for more interesting comments and discussion.
Atrévete-te-te salte del closet
Dare-dare-dare, get out of your closet
This does not refer to the euphemism of “getting out of the closet” which means coming out gay. It is more literal; it means, “get out of the closet! You’re taking too long to pick clothes!”
Sacúdete el sudor como si fueras un wiper,
Que tú eres callejera, street fighter.
Shake off your sweat like if you were a wiper,
‘Cause you’re a street girl, a street fighter.
* callejera = street girl, street roamer; the word has connotations of young and looking for something to do
Yo sé que yo también quiero consumir de tu perejil.
I know that I too would like to consume your parsley.
I know that I too want to eat your parsley.
Original note 2012: This is a euphemism. If you don’t get it, I won’t tell you. There might be kids reading this!
Update 2023: Whatever, I don’t care. It’s a reference to oral sex with a woman with pubic hair. It might be dual-meaning since perejil is slang for a dumb person or common/unimportant person in Argentina, but that is not the primary meaning here. Calle 13 is from Puerto Rico. The visual of a bunch of parsley (as it gets sold in grocery stores) is more important here.
Hello, deja el show,
Súbete la mini falda hasta la espalda.
Súbetela, deja el show, más alta
Hello, drop the act,
Raise your miniskirt up to your back.
Raise it, drop the act, higher.
* deja el show is Spanglish for “drop the act.” It refers to the English phrase, “putting on a show.”
Transcription/translation in 2008:
Que ahora vamos a bailar por to’a las altas.
Because now we’re gonna dance around all the heights. [EDIT?]
Corrected in the 2023 update:
(I knew this line was wrong in 2008 but I couldn’t hear it properly and none of the lyrics websites had any alternatives. This song was very poorly transcribed in 2008. Thanks to a reader for correcting the Spanish ending in this line. The English translation is approximate still, with a focus on the meaning instead of the word-for-word translation.)
Que ahora vamos a bailar por to’a la jalda
Because now we’re gonna dance around the ledge
Because now we’re gonna dance around the steep hill’s edge
“Jalda refers to a steep hill. Although you don’t get this happening as much anymore, you will have people using cartons or palm trees to ‘bobsled’ down the hill. People will refer to this as the jalda. Within the song it would be something similar to dancing around recklessly.”
Transcription/translation in 2008:
Ahora nena quieres tu zipi
Now sweetie, you want your sippy?
Corrected in the 2023 update:
Mera nena, ¿quieres un sipi?
Hey girl, you want a taste?
Esto es hasta abajo, cójele el tricky.
This goes to the bottom, pick up the tricky.
“Hasta abajo is the type of dancing.. as in they’re going down dancing (sexual connotation included of course!), get the trick (not pick or take) does refer to learning it, catching the drift of the dance (insinuating that she should practice the dance to get the trick of it)”
Esto es fácil, esto es un mamey
This is easy, this is a breeze
* un mamey is a slang word with different meanings in different countries. In some versions of Spanish, mamey is vulgar or at least rude. However, from my research [1, 2], it sounds like the word only means “easy” (or “a breeze”) in Puerto Rican Spanish.
Aquí to’as [todas] las boricuas saben karate
Here all the Boricuas know karate
* Boricua = Puerto Rican; las Boricuas = Puerto Rican women
“Atrevete-te-te” by Calle 13
Songlations 