“La Camisa Negra” (The Black Shirt) by Juanes, English translation + meaning

“The Black Shirt” Song Translated
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Rock, grieving/bitter. Juanes mourns a bad relationship and how it affected him. The black shirt symbolizes mourning. This song has lots of wordplay explained in the notes.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube

Translation:

(No por pobre y feo, pero por antojado…)

(Not for being poor or ugly, but for longing…)

Tengo la camisa negra.
Hoy mi amor está de luto.
Hoy tengo en el alma una pena [*pena, f. = pain (emotional); regret]
Y es por culpa de tu embrujo.

I wear the black shirt.
Today my love is mourning.
Today I have a regret weighing my soul
And it’s the fault of your witchcraft.

Hoy sé que tú ya no me quieres
Y esto es lo que más me hiere
Que tengo la camisa negra
Y una pena que me duele.

Today I know that you do not love/want me anymore
And this is what hurts me most
(So much) that I have a black shirt
And a regret that pains me.

-Coda-
Mal parece que solo me quedé
Y fue pura todita tu mentira.
Qué maldita mala suerte la mía
Que aquel día te encontré.

Sadly, it looks like I was left alone
And it was purely, completely all your lie.
What damned bad luck, mine,
To find you on that day.

Por beber del veneno malevo de tu amor,
Yo quedé moribundo y lleno de dolor.
Respiré de ese humo amargo de tu adiós
Y desde que tú te fuiste yo sólo tengo…

For drinking from the evil venom of your love,
I was left dying [lit. moribund] and full of pain.
I breathed of that bitter smoke from your goodbye
And since you left all I have left is…

Tengo la camisa negra,
Porque negra tengo el alma.
Yo por ti perdí la calma
Y casi pierdo hasta mi cama.

I wear the black shirt,
Because black is how I have my soul.
I lost my calm because of you
And I almost even lost my bed.

Cama cama caman baby,
Te digo con disimulo,
Que tengo la camisa negra
Y debajo tengo el difunto.

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon baby,
I tell you furtively,
Because I wear the black shirt
And beneath (it) I have the deceased.

(Pa’ enterrartelo cuando quieras, mamita.)

(To bury it for you whenever you want, little mama.) [*alt. To bury it into you whenever you want, little mama.]

(Asi como lo oyes, m’hija.)

(It’s just as you hear it, sweetie.)

Tengo la camisa negra.
Ya tu amor no me interesa.
Lo que ayer me supo a gloria,
Hoy me sabe a pura (mier-)

I have the black shirt.
Your love doesn’t interest me anymore.
What tasted of glory to me yesterday,
Today tastes to me of pure (shi-)

Miércoles por la tarde y tú que no llegas,
Ni siquiera muestras señas,
Y yo con la camisa negra,
Y tus maletas en la puerta.

Wednesday by the afternoon and you that doesn’t appear,
(You) don’t even show signs,
And me with my black shirt,
And your suitcases by the door.

[Repeat from coda]

[Repeat “Cama cama caman…” stanza]

Translation Notes:

This song has a lot of teasing wordplay that almost says one thing, then turns around and says another. Original translation was posted in the Songlations LiveJournal on August 2008, updated August 2024 to add a few extra notes.

—

No por pobre y feo, pero por antojado…
Not for being poor or ugly, but for longing…
Not for being poor or ugly, but for lusting…
Not for being poor or ugly, but for desiring…

This is a paraphrasing a line from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, but I don’t have a copy of the book in Spanish to find the right quote. It is in the second half of the book somewhere. At one point, someone says something very similar to the main character.

Update 8/2024: I found the quote in a free e-book version of El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera by Gabriel García Márquez:

Por otra parte, los niños de las grandes familias en desgracia andaban vestidos de príncipes antiguos, y algunos muy pobres andaban descalzos. Entre tantas rarezas venidas de todas partes, Florentino Ariza estaba de todos modos entre los más raros, pero no tanto como para llamar demasiado la atención. Lo más duro que oyó fue que alguien le gritara en la calle: “Al pobre y al feo, todo se les va en deseo”.

My translation:

On the other hand, the children of the great ruined families were dressed like the princes of old times, and the poorest went barefoot. Florentino Ariza was definitely among the oddest, but not so much as to call too much attention to it. The worst he heard was someone yelling to him in the street, “For the ugly and poor, everything leaves them wanting.”

Official translation from the 1985 English version of Love in the Time of Cholera:

Among so many oddities originating in so many places, Florentino Ariza was certainly among the oddest, but not to the point of attracting undue attention. The harshest thing he heard was when someone shouted to him on the street: “When you’re ugly and poor, you can only want more.”

It is possible that this is a common idiom in Colombia, the country of both Juanes and the author Gabriel García Márquez, but I have never heard it except in this novel and this song. Juanes has added literary references to his work before, for example referencing Memoria del Fuego in “Destino”.

The original book’s line is rude street harassment toward the main character of the book, Florentino Ariza, calling him ugly and poor and telling him he won’t get what he wants. Love in the Time of Cholera is about Florentino’s life, especially his desire for a particular woman who rejected him in his youth and chose to marry for social status instead. He spends the book dating other women, having lots of sex “to practice” for his future with her, while waiting for his second chance with her, the woman he considers his true love.

Juanes’ lyrics say his own suffering is not due to being ugly or poor, but that nevertheless he is left wanting. He specifically uses the adjective antojado which is the word used to describe craving things like sweets and sex, stuff one doesn’t technically need to live but that one desires.

un antojo, noun = whim, fancy, craving

—

Tengo la camisa negra
I have the black shirt [lit.]
I wear the black shirt [alt.]
I am wearing a black shirt [alt.]

Black is for funerals. That is why he wears the black shirt.

tener = to have
tener puesto/a = to have on, to be wearing

—

Hoy mi amor está de luto
Today my love is (in) mourning

estar de luto = to be visibly mourning (a death), usually means wearing black for a period of time

—

Y es por culpa de tu embrujo
And it’s the fault of your witchcraft

por culpa de = by fault of

—

Mal parece que solo me quedé
Sadly, it looks like I was left alone
It looks (badly, unfortunately) that alone I was left [lit.]

Also meant to suggest the word malparido to the listeners.

malparido/a [noun] = bastard; son of a bitch; bitch; lit. badly born (compound of mal and parido)

—

Y fue pura todita tu mentira.

And it was purely, completely all your lie.

The word rhythm of “Y fue pura” sounds similar to “hijo de puta“, or “son of a whore”. He isn’t saying that, but the lyrics suggest it to our ears.

—

Y casi pierdo hasta mi cama
And I almost even lost my bed
And I almost even lose my bed [tense, lit.]

Said as if telling a story. He is saying he almost lost everything… he almost even lost his place to sleep! I had a lot of Spanish learners in comments asking of “lost even my bed” was code for losing sexual desire, but it isn’t. It means losing everything. The reason Juanes uses cama is for the cama/c’mon catcall that immediately follows:

Cama cama caman baby…
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon baby…

This part is Spanglish. He means “c’mon” but he is pronouncing it like cama (bed) to act as a repetition of the last word (which is innocent enough) but also as the dirty double-meaning catcall that he references next:

…Te digo con disimulo
…I tell you furtively

Catcalling a woman with cama/c’mon is an invitation for sex obviously.

—

Que tengo la camisa negra
Y debajo tengo el difunto.

Because I wear the black shirt
And beneath (it) I have the deceased.

He is mourning by wearing black, then saying that he himself is the dead man.

—

Pa’ enterrartelo cuando quieras, mamita.
To bury it for you whenever you want, little mama.
To bury it into you whenever you want, little mama. [*alternative]

The first meaning is literal, offering to bury a body. The second meaning is a lewd comment offering to bury something else.

—

Asi como lo oyes, m’hija.
It’s just as you hear it, sweetie.

This line is said in the background. It is teasing the listeners, telling them to believe their ears. This song has several lines that suggest profanity or indecent thoughts without explicitly saying them.

—

Hoy me sabe a pura mier- [pause]
-coles por la tarde…

Today tastes to me of pure shi-
Wednesday by the afternoon…

mierda = shit (merde in French)
Miércoles = Wednesday

—

sólo vs. solo
just/only vs. alone

Both words have the emphasis on the first vowel, so why is the accent even needed? It is an old grammar rule to distinguish the adverb and adjective versions. This page explains the difference and also the 2010 grammar rule update.

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“La Camisa Negra” by Juanes, English translation and explanation of lyrics