“Sueño Con Ella” (I Dream of Her) by Concha Buika, English translation

“I Dream of Her”
Album: In My Skin (In My Skin), 2011; La Noche Más Larga (The Longest Night), 2013
Style: Piano jazz, dreaming and reminiscing about a lost relationship.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

Frente a las olas del mar y bajo las estrellas,
Yo… sueño con ella, yo sueño con ella.
(x4)

Before the waves of the sea and below the stars,
I… dream of her, I dream of her.
(x4)

Huí de las casas
Y de los lugares donde las gentes la recuerdan.
No me escondo,
Simplemente ya no atiendo
A lo que no me alimenta.

I fled the homes
And the places where people remember her.
I am not hiding,
I simply no longer deal with
That which does not feed me.

Y aunque el tiempo y la gloria tras mucho trabajar
Me hayan traído cosas bellas,
Alguna que otra noche aún sueño con ella.

And although time and glory after much work
Have brought me beautiful things,
Every now and then at night I still dream of her.

Ella me dijo “volveré”
Y un segundo después
La desterré al olvido.

She told me “I will return”
And one second afterward
I banished her to oblivion

No fue un castigo,
Simplemente no debo volver
A donde no me han querido.

It was not a punishment,
I simply should not return
To where they have not loved me.

Y aunque su amor traicionero
Me hiciera perder la razón
Y el mío fuera un queriendo a medias,
Cierro los ojos y sueño con ella,
Y yo sueño con ella, y yo sueño con ella.

And though her traitorous love
Made me lose reason
And mine was a hesitant halfway love,
I close my eyes and I dream of her,
And I dream of her, and I dream of her.

Hay un gato marrón,
Caracolas de mar bajo la luna lunera.
En el aire hay amor,
Todo tiene el color de la rosa tempranera.

There is a brown cat,
Sea snails below the the moony moon.
There is love in the air,
Everything has the color of the early blooming rose.

Ahora entiendo el por qué
Cuando se fue de mí, llovió una semana entera.
En el calor de esta noche, yo sue… Yo sueño con ella.

Now I understand the why
When she left me, it rained for a full week.
In the heat of this night, I drea… I dream of her.

[Musical interlude]

Frente a las olas del mar y bajo las estrellas
Yo… sueño con ella, yo sueño con ella.
Aquí solita sobre la arena,
Frente a las olas del mar y bajo las estrellas
Hoy yo… sueño con ella.

Before the waves of the sea and below the stars,
I… dream of her, I dream of her.
Here all alone on the sand,
Before the waves of the sea and below the stars,
Today I… dream of her.

[Musical interlude]

Fue un invierno dibujado de calor
Y al verano llegó el frío.
Fue también tu miedo a dejarte querer y conocer,
Fue tremenda lucha estar contigo.

It was a winter painted with heat
And in the summer came the cold.
It was also your fear of letting yourself be loved and known,
It was such a struggle being with you.

Y si no fuera porque
He tatuado tu nombre en mi piel,
Yo pensaría que fuiste un sueño,
Será imposible no echarte de menos a ti.

If it weren’t because
I tattooed your name on my skin,
I would think you were a dream,
It will be impossible not to miss you.

Y yo sueño contigo, muñequita linda,
Contigo y conmigo.
Tú estás bailando bajo el sol
Y tu piel de nube viene a rozarme el ombligo.

And I dream of you, lovely doll,
Of you and of me.
You are dancing below the sun
And your cloud skin comes to graze my belly button.

Hay dos ángeles de amor
Dibujando veleros que cruzan mares prohibidos.
Se me rompe la voz
Cada vez que recuerdo haberlos cruzado contigo.
Contigo, mujer distinta, yo sueño aún...

There are two angels of love
Painting sailboats that cross forbidden seas.
My voice breaks
Every time I remember crossing them with you.
With you, distinct woman, I dream [of you] still…

Y yo sueño con ella, y yo sueño con ella…
Y yo sueño con ella, y yo sueño con ella…
Y yo sueño con ella, y yo sueño con ella…

And I dream of her, and I dream of her…
And I dream of her, and I dream of her…
And I dream of her, and I dream of her…

Frente a las olas del mar y bajo las estrellas
Yo… sueño con ella, yo sueño con ella, con ella.
Aquí solita sobre la arena,
Frente a las olas del mar y bajo las estrellas,
Yo… sueño con ella., con ella.

Before the waves of the sea and below the stars,
I… dream of her, I dream of her, of her.
Here all alone on the sand,
Before the waves of the sea and below the stars,
I… dream of her, of her.

Hoy yo sueño con ella. (x3)

Today I dream of her. (x3)

Translation Notes:

Yo sueño con ella

I dream of her

Although “con” usually means “with”, here “of” is the correct translation.

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Huí de las casas
Y de los lugares donde las gentes la recuerdan.

I fled the homes
And the places where people remember her.

I fled from the homes
And from the places where people remember her.

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Simplemente <ya> no atiendo
A lo que [no me alimenta].

I simply no <longer> deal with
That which [does not feed me].

Simply, <now> I don’t tend to / give attention to / deal with
That which [does not nourish/feed me].

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[Alguna que otra] noche <aún> sueño {con ella}

[Every now and then] at night I <still> dream {of her}
[Occasionally] at night I <still> dream {of her}

There is no good word-for-word literal translation of “alguna que otra” (some that other, some or other), so it’s best to consider it an idiomatic expression. It is often used with a noun afterward, alguna que otra [cosa], where cosa (thing) can be replaced by another noun.

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Será imposible <no> echarte de menos a ti.

It will be impossible <not> to miss you.

Another idiomatic phrase, “echar de menos” means “to miss” or “to long for”. Word-for-word it means “to throw as a minus” from mathematics where menos means minus.

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Dibujando veleros que cruzan mares prohibidos

Painting sailboats that cross forbidden seas

Here, dibujando (dibujar) means “drawing” (to draw), but I did not want to incorrectly suggest the other English meaning of drawing (to pull in). Concha Buika is evoking figurative drawing, making metaphors and images.

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