“Manos Al Aire” (Hands in the Air) by Nelly Furtado, English translation

“Hands in the Air” (2009)
Album: Mi Plan (My Plan)
Genre: Pop, about defenselessness, relationship trouble, and not wanting to fight. Beautiful voice, but the song is sad. Don’t put your hands in the air in defeat! Nooo.
Country: Canada, Portuguese background

By the way, I want to point out that Nelly Furtado was first famous in English media (she sung light pop “I’m Like a Bird” and R&B “Promiscuous”). It is not often that English singers expand to the Spanish market, so this is interesting. This song was released as a single before re-release in the album.

Lyrics Translation:

Tú, que pierdes el control
Hablando en alta voz,
Hieres mi corazón.

You, who lose control,
Speaking with a raised voice,
Wound my heart.

Yo, tratando de escuchar,
No me puedo explicar.
Qué extraña sensación.

Me, trying to listen,
Cannot explain (it to) myself.
What a strange sensation.

Tú no me quieres entender
Y me mandas a callar diciéndome,
No me debo sorprender,
Porque así es la realidad
De nuestro amor.

You do not want to understand me
And you shut me up saying,
(That) I should not be surprised,
Because this is the reality
Of our love.

Chorus:
——————————————-
Y yo–
No tengo armas para enfrentarte.
Pongo mis manos, manos al aire.
Sólo me importa amarte
En cuerpo y alma como era ayer.

And I–
Do not have weapons to confront you.
I put my hands, my hands in the air.
All that matters to me is loving you
In body and soul the way it was yesterday.
——————————————-

Tú que perdiste el control
Te dejaste llevar — por la inseguridad.
Yo que te he visto crecer
Me puedo imaginar — que todo cambiará.

You, who lost control,
Let yourself be taken in — by insecurity.
I, who has seen you grow,
Can imagine — that everything will change.

Hoy, aunque todo siga igual
Y me mandes a callar diciéndome
Que tienes que dominar
O será el final, y yo — no puedo — así.

Today, even if everything remains the same
And you shut me up saying
That you have to dominate
Or it will be the end, and I — cannot continue — like this.

Chorus:
——————————————-
Y yo–
No tengo armas para enfrentarte.
Pongo mis manos, manos al aire.
Sólo me importa amarte
En cuerpo y alma como era ayer.

And I–
Do not have weapons to confront you.
I put my hands, my hands in the air.
All that matters to me is loving you
In body and soul the way it was yesterday.
——————————————-
(x2)

…Como era ayer.

…How it was yesterday.

Translation Notes:

Hablando en alta voz

Speaking with a raised voice

alta voz means “raised voice” or “loud voice” but it’s a syntatic inversion of how you would normally say it in Spanish (voz alta, with the noun first and adjective second). It is meant to sound like the portmanteau, altavoz (loudspeaker).

Her partner speaks so loudly, it is as if he were speaking with a loudspeaker.

—

Yo, tratando de escuchar,
No me puedo explicar.
Qué extraña sensación.

Me, trying to listen,
Cannot explain (it to) myself.
What a strange sensation.

Out of context, no me puedo explicar would mean “I cannot explain myself.” It’s the literal and the understood translation.

However, in this context, I am pretty sure she means no me lo puedo explicar which is “I cannot explain it to myself.” Otherwise, why say she was trying to listen? She would have said she was trying to talk instead.

—

Y me mandes a callar diciéndome…

And you shut me up saying…
And you order me to shut up saying… [*lit.]

mandar (a) [verb] = to order (to); to send off (to)

This is a very dominating thing to do. You do not mandas a callar your equals. You do it to children if you are scolding them.

—

Y yo no puedo así.

And I cannot continue like this.
And I cannot like this. [*lit., “stay” or “remain” or “continue” is implied]