“Puedes Contar Conmigo” (You Can Count On Me) by La Oreja De Van Gogh, English translation

“You Can Count On Me”
Album: Lo Que Te Conté Mientras Te Hacías La Dormida (What I Told You While You Pretended to Sleep), 2003
Style: Pop/rock, nostalgic love song about seeing the end of a relationship and feeling sad, thinking of the good times they had in the past, and asking if they will remember them fondly also.
Country: Spain

Lyrics Translation:

Un café con sal,
Ganas de llorar,
Mi mundo empezando a temblar,
Presiento que se acerca el final.

A coffee with salt,
Wanting to cry,
My world starting to tremble,
I feel that the end draws near.

No quiero ganar.
¿Ahora eso qué más da?
Estoy cansada ya de inventar
Excusas que no saben andar.

I do not want to win.
What does that matter now?
I am tired, now, of inventing
Excuses that do not stand up. [*lit. Excuses that do not know how to walk.]

Chorus A:
——————-
Y sólo quedarán
Los buenos momentos de ayer
Que fueron de los dos.
Y hoy sólo quiero creer…

And only they will be left,
The good moments of yesterday
That belonged to the two of us.
And today I only want to believe…

Chorus B:
——————–
Que recordarás
Las tardes de invierno por Madrid,
Las noches enteras sin dormir.
La vida pasaba y yo sentía
Que me iba a morir de amor
Al verte esperando en mi portal,
Sentado en el suelo sin pensar
Que puedes contar conmigo.

That you will remember
The winter afternoons around Madrid,
The whole nights without sleeping.
Life was passing and I felt
That I was going to die of love
(On) seeing you waiting at my doorstep,
Sitting on the ground without thinking
That you can count on me.
———————–

No… Nunca hubo maldad,
Sólo ingenuidad,
Pretendiendo hacernos creer
Que el mundo estaba a nuestros pies.

No… There was never malice,
Only naivety,
Trying to make us believe
That the world was at our feet.

Cuando el sueño venga por mí,
En silencio voy a construir
Una vida a todo color
Donde vivamos juntos los dos.

When sleep comes for me,
I will quietly build [*lit. In silence I will build]
A life in full color
Where the two of us live together.

Y sólo quedarán
Los buenos momentos de ayer
Que fueron de los dos.
Y hoy sólo quiero creer…

And only they will be left,
The good moments of yesterday
That belonged to the two of us.
And today I only want to believe…

Que recordarás
Las tardes de invierno por Madrid,
Las noches enteras sin dormir.
La vida pasaba y yo sentía
Que me iba a morir de amor
Al verte esperando en mi portal,
Sentado en el suelo sin pensar
Que puedes contar conmigo para siempre.

That you will remember
The winter afternoons around Madrid,
The whole nights without sleeping.
Life was passing and I felt
That I was going to die of love
(On) seeing you waiting at my doorstep,
Sitting on the ground without thinking
That you can count on me forever.

Y no puedo evitar echarte de menos
Mientras das la mano a mi tiempo y te vas.
Yo siento que quiero verte y verte y pienso…

I cannot avoid missing you
While you shake hands with my time and you leave.
I feel that I want to see you and see you and I think…

Que recordarás
Las tardes de invierno por Madrid,
Las noches enteras sin dormir.
La vida pasaba y yo sentía
Que me iba a morir de amor
Al verte esperando en mi portal,
Sentado en el suelo sin pensar
Que puedes contar conmigo.

That you will remember
The winter afternoons around Madrid,
The whole nights without sleeping.
Life was passing and I felt
That I was going to die of love
(On) seeing you waiting at my doorstep,
Sitting on the ground without thinking
That you can count on me.

Que recordarás
Las tardes de invierno por Madrid,
Las noches enteras sin dormir.
La vida se pasa y yo me muero,
Me muero por ti.

That you will remember
The winter afternoon around Madrid,
The whole nights without sleeping.
Life passes and I am dying,
I am dying for you.

Translation Notes:

Y sólo quedarán / Los buenos momentos de ayer [with line break]
And only they will be left, / The good moments of yesterday

Y sólo quedarán los buenos momentos de ayer [without line break, better]
And only the good moments of yesterday will be left

—

This was the last part I translated:

Y no puedo evitar echarte de menos / Mientras das la mano a mi tiempo y te vas.
I cannot avoid missing you / While you shake hands with my time and you leave.

The “das la mano a mi tiempo” phrase does not make much sense to me except as a way of anthropomorphizing her time by talking about her time’s hands. She did it to “excuses” earlier, so it is not out of the realm of possibility. I searched around anyway and found that other people were discussing this phrase on the Word Reference forums.

Apparently other people had translated this song already. I did not find the translation quoted,* but I unfortunately found another that is very similar to mine. Woe accidental redundancy! At least it is confirmation.

*This seems like a good opportunity to remind people to cite quoted translations with a link back to the full translation. We translators appreciate it. Thanks! :-)