“Ojos Noche” (Eyes of Night) by Elsa y Elmar ft. Carla Morrison, English translation

“Eyes of Night”
Album: Eres Diamante (You’re A Diamond), 2017
Style: Bittersweet pop song about a girl who fell in love and got ghosted.
Country: Colombia; Mexico; USA
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

Él siempre me recogía
Con su mirada de amante
Y me llevaba a lugares
Que yo no conocía
Cuando me recogía.

He always picked me up
With his gaze of a lover
And he took me to places
That I didn’t know
When he picked me up.

Hablábamos de la vida
Y de sus planes cambiantes.
Hablábamos del presente,
De ayudar a la gente,
De los tiempos de antes…

We spoke about life
And its changing plans.
We spoke about the present,
Of helping people,
Of times long past…

Pero no lo vol-,
No lo volví a ver.
Luego, no lo vol-,
No lo volví a ver.

But I didn’t see-,
I didn’t see him again.
Later, I didn’t see-,
I didn’t see him again.

Si yo decía la verdad, entonces
Sería obvio que él también lo hacía.
Él me miraba con sus ojos noche
Y yo le creía lo que me decía.

If I said the truth, then
It seemed obvious that he would also.
He looked at me with his eyes of night
And I believed what he said to me.

Él siempre me recogía
En su carroza flotante
Y me mostraba la luna,
Me leía mi fortuna,
Me sentía importante.

He would always pick me up
In his floating carriage
And he showed me the moon,
He read my fortune,
I felt important.

Andábamos por la noche,
Buscando algún escondite,
Para decirnos las cosas
Que solo con palabras
Imposible decirse.

We went around at night,
Searching for some hideout,
To tell each other the things
That with just words
Are impossible to say.

Pero no lo vol-,
No lo volví a ver.
Luego, no (te juro) lo vol-,
No, yo lo busqué.

But I didn’t see-,
I didn’t see him again.
Later, I didn’t (I swear) see-,
No, I didn’t seek him out.

Si yo decía la verdad, entonces
Sería obvio que él también lo hacía
Él me miraba con sus ojos noche
Y yo le creía lo que me decía.

If I said the truth, then
It seemed obvious that he would also.
He looked at me with his eyes of night
And I believed what he said to me.

Si yo decía la verdad, entonces, (Uh-uh, uh-uh-uh)
Él me miraba con sus ojos de noche, (Eh-eh, eh-eh)
De noche,
De noche,
De noche…

If I said the truth, then, (Uh-uh, uh-uh-uh)
He looked at me with his eyes of night, (Eh-eh, eh-eh)
Of night,
Of night,
Of night…

Ven y me muestras todo lo que escondes
Para curarnos todas las heridas.
Ven y me miras con tus ojos de noche… (Eh-eh, eh-eh, ah-ah…)
(x2)

Come and show me everything you hide
To cure our wounds.
Come and gaze at me with your eyes of night… (Eh-eh, eh-eh, ah-ah…)

Si yo decía la verdad, entonces
Sería obvio que él también lo hacía.
Él me miraba con sus ojos noche
Y yo le creía lo que me decía (decía… uh… )

If I said the truth, then
It seemed obvious that he would also.
He looked at me with his eyes of night
And I believed what he said to me (said… uh…)

Ah-uh,
Uh-uh, uh-uh-uh…

Él siempre me recogía
En su carroza flotante…

He would always pick me up
In his floating carriage…

Translation Notes:

Hablábamos del presente,
De ayudar a la gente,
De los tiempos de antes…

We spoke about the present,
Of helping people,
Of times long past…

This guy charmed this girl, romanced her, and invoked feelings of kindness and nostalgia.

“Tiempos de antes” (before times, times past, how things were before) is a phrase that evokes nostalgia.

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Si yo decía la verdad, entonces
Sería obvio que él también lo hacía.

If I said the truth, then
It seemed obvious that he would also.

The girl laments that because she was honest with him, she expected that he would be honest back, but that was not how things turned out. He romanced her and ghosted her.

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Él me miraba con sus ojos noche
Y yo le creía lo que me decía.

He looked at me with his eyes of night
And I believed what he said to me.

The phrase ojos noche (eyes of night, or night eyes) is poetic. It means his eyes were deep like the night, possibly dark-colored eyes. It does not mean “bedroom eyes” (eyes thinking about sex), though I do think they are meant to sound seductive. The girl was looking for romance and the guy was looking for something very short-term. She misinterpreted his eyes.

---

Él siempre me recogía
En su carroza flotante
Y me mostraba la luna,
Me leía mi fortuna,
Me sentía importante.

He would always pick me up
In his floating carriage
And he showed me the moon,
He read (me) my fortune,
I felt important.

The Spanish syntax is shows how much the girl felt centered by this guy. The stanza begins with él… (he…) but then the rest are phrases focusing on her. He made her feel special. Unfortunately it was not meant to be.