“Bad Weed” or “Bad Plant” Lyrics
Album: Quiero Verte Feliz (I Want to See You Happy), 2021
Style: Cumbia pop song about a bad person who lies and isn’t good to be around. The Marisoul has a great voice!
Country: USA (Los Angeles, CA)
Listen: YouTube
Translation:
No quiero escucharte ya.
No vale ni un peso,
Tus palabras que se van
Como hojas en el viento.
I do not want to listen to you anymore.
They aren’t worth even a dollar,
Your words that fly
Like leaves in the wind.
Tú sembraste dudas,
Todos mis intentos,
Solo me engañaste,
Me vendiste un cuento.
You sowed doubts,
All my intentions,
You just tricked me,
You sold me a tale.
No quiero escucharte ya.
(I bet you cannot look me in the eyes.)
I do not want to listen to you anymore.
(I bet you cannot look me in the eyes.)
Hierba mala nunca muere.
En las flores se detiene,
Las viste de espinas, las mata de sed,
Hasta que se secan contra la pared.
Te tiro al olvido,
No quiero volver a cruzarme contigo.
A bad weed never dies.
With the flowers it slows down,
It dresses them in thorns, it kills them with thirst,
Until they dry against the wall.
I throw you to oblivion,
I do not want to cross paths with you again.
Mejor sola caminar
Que mal acompañada.
Ya no quiero tropezar
Andando de tu mano.
Better to walk alone
Than poorly accompanied.
I do not want to trip
Walking hand in hand with you.
Tú sembraste dudas,
Todos mis intentos,
Solo me engañaste,
Me vendiste un cuento.
You sowed doubts,
All my intentions,
You just tricked me,
You sold me a tale.
No quiero escucharte ya.
(We’ll never go together, you and I.)
I do not want to listen to you anymore.
(We’ll never go together, you and I.)
Hierba mala nunca muere.
En las flores se detiene,
Las viste de espinas, las mata de sed,
Hasta que se secan contra la pared.
Te tiro al olvido,
No quiero volver a cruzarme contigo.
A bad weed never dies.
In the flowers it slows down,
It dresses them in thorns, it kills them with thirst,
Until they dry against the wall.
I throw you to oblivion,
I do not want to cross paths with you again.
Espero la vida en su recorrido
Te enseñe a no ser tan cruel como has sido.
Prefiero tu olvido.
No quiero volver a cruzarme contigo.
I hope that life in its path,
Teaches you not to be as cruel as you have been.
I prefer you forget me.
I do not want to cross paths with you again.
Translation Notes:
hierba mala = bad weed
This refers to a person here, but can also refer generally to bad plants, usually plants that are harmful or unwanted in some way. Hierba buena (good weed) refers to mint.
Barely related story tangent – I have childhood memories of watching nativity movies around Christmas on Spanish TV channels in the USA. There was one particular nativity movie that had a scene after baby Jesus was born, when Mary was washing Jesus’s cloth diapers and putting them out to dry in the sun. Joseph tells Mary, “don’t put the diapers there, that’s a mala hierba (bad weed).”
Mary responds, “no, it’s not bad, it’s a hierba buena (good weed).” And then there is instrumental holy music like Mary just christened this plant as good and holy and this moment is magical and significant. It’s so campy and not in the Bible anywhere, completely made up, but I loved it. Little Cairaguas loved etymology even back then.
No vale ni un peso, tus palabras
They aren’t even worth a dollar, your words
They aren’t even worth a peso, your words [*literal]
La Santa Cecilia is a Mexican-American group and this line refers to the Mexican peso because they are singing in Spanish, but I think they would say “dollar” if the song were in English. The exact currency isn’t important. It can be any low denomination amount in any currency. The point is that this person’s words are not worth much.
Tus palabras que se van / Como hojas en el viento.
Your words that fly / Like leaves in the wind.
Your words that go away / Like leaves in the wind.
Hierba mala nunca muere.
En las flores se detiene…
A bad weed never dies
With the flowers it slows down…
Less of a translation note and more of a gardening note –
Plants have limited resources and will focus their energy on making reproductive parts (flowers, fruit, seeds). This stanza is saying that a bad weed doesn’t die, only slows down other growth to flower.
Las viste de espinas, las mata de sed,
Hasta que se secan contra la pared.
It dresses them in thorns, it kills them with thirst,
Until they dry against the wall.
This is also part of the weed’s reproductive life cycle. It flowers, then the flowers develop seeds and the plant allows that part of itself to dry up. The flowers die, dry against the wall, but the seeds are alive and dormant. The plant will come back again.
Mejor sola caminar
Que mal acompañada.
Better to walk alone
Than poorly accompanied.
These lines refer to a Mexican proverb, “mejor sola que mal acompañada” (better alone than in bad company). It means that it is better to be single than in a bad relationship.
Ya no quiero tropezar
Andando de tu mano.
I do not want to trip
Walking hand in hand with you.
I do not want to trip anymore
Walking led by your hand.
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