Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“I Ask God”
Album: Un Día Normal (A Normal Day), 2003
Style: Rock, hopeful for the future, love song
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Que mis ojos se despierten
Con la luz de tu mirada, yo…
A Dios le pido.
That my eyes wake up
With the light of your gaze, I…
Ask God.
Que mi madre no se muera y
Que mi padre me recuerde,
A Dios le pido.
That my mother not die and
That my father remember me,
I ask God.
“Nobody Like You” Lyrics
Album: Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida (What I told you when you pretended to sleep), 2003
Style: Pop, sweet, love song telling a long-term romantic partner about how much they are valued. They are irreplaceable and their shared memories are a treasure of the heart.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Nadie como tú
Para hacerme reír.
Nadie como tú
Sabe tanto de mí.
Nobody like you
To make me laugh.
Nobody like you
Knows so much about me.
“As Long As I Have You”
Album: Laundry Service, 2001
Style: Pop/rock, love song bargain in an apocalypse scenario. She is willing to let a lot fall to ruin “as long as I have you.”
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Que se arruinen los canales de noticias,
Con lo mucho que odio la televisión.
Que se vuelvan anticuadas las sonrisas,
Y se extingan todas las puestas de sol.
Let the news station channels fall to ruins,
I hate television anyway.
Let smiles become ancient relics,
And let all the rays of sunlight be extinguished.
“Dreams” Song Translation
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Rock, politically aware
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Sueño libertad
Para todos los que están secuestrados hoy
En medio de la selva.
I dream of liberty
For all those who are kidnapped today
In the middle of the jungle.
Y sueño con la paz
De mi pueblo desangrado,
Y con el final
De esta injusta guerra.
And I dream of peace
(For) my hemorrhaged village,
And with the end
Of this unjust war.
“Soul, Heart and Life”
Style: Waltz, bolero, various adaptions. Translation of a classic song about a person very much in love. They sing about the three things they offer their lover: their soul to woe them, their heart to love them, and their life to spend with them. It is a sweet love song.
Countries: Many
Listen: Various versions. Trío Los Panchos (USA/Mexico), Dyango (Spain; live, slow performance), Los Embajadores Criollos (Peru), Soledad Pastorutti (Argentina, live, deep voice), Tania Libertad (Peru), and more on YouTube.
Recuerdo aquella vez
Que yo te conocí
Recuerdo aquella tarde
Pero no recuerdo ni como te vi.
I remember that time
When I first met you
I remember that afternoon
But I don’t even remember how I saw you.
“Your Silence” Lyrics Translation
Album: Pafuera Telarañas (Get Outta Here, Cobwebs), 2004
Style: Melancholy sound
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Como quien tira de una cuerda que se romperá,
Tirar, tirar, tirar, tirar, tirar…
Como sin darse cuenta rozar un poco más,
Los ojos aún cerrados para no afrontar.
Like someone pulls on a rope that will break,
Pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling…
Like without realizing it, brushing a bit more,
Eyes still closed to avoid confronting.
“The Law of Retirement” Lyrics Translation
Album: Eusebio, 2008
Style: Slow, soft song with accordions in the background. This song was used in the soundtrack of a romantic comedy-drama film titled Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).
Country: Spain (Barcelona)
Listen: YouTube
La ley del retiro
Y en el olvido, olvidé
Qué yo había sido.
The law of retirement
And in oblivion, I forgot
What I had been.
“Rosalinda”
Album: Arrasando (Razing), 2000
Style: Upbeat pop song about being in love and in lust with a girl named Rosalinda.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Cuando se tiene una razón
Para amar intensamente,
Se descubre de repente
Que por ti late más fuerte el corazón.
When one has a reason
To love intensely,
One suddenly finds
That for you, the heart beats stronger. [*alt. harder]
“Rare Sunday Afternoon” Lyrics
Album: La Barrera Del Sonido (The Sound Barrier), 2009
Style: Pop/rock, energetic, sounds cheerful, song about spending a weekend with a crush.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Domingo por la tarde
Me vienes a buscar
Y vamos a perder el tiempo un rato.
Sunday (by the) afternoon
You come to look for me
And we go to waste some time.
“The Sea” Lyrics
Album: Frisbee, 2002
Style: Rock
Country: Venezuela
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Yo no soy el Mar
Que es el agua y que es la sal.
Soy tan sólo una ola que
Vino, se rompió y después se fue.
I am not the Sea
That is the water and that is the salt.
I am nothing more than a wave that
Came, broke and then left.
“Disappearances” Song Translation
Album: Buscando America (Looking for America), 1984
Style: Political commentary, sad song
Countries: Panama, Mexico
Listen at YouTube: Rubén Blades, or Maná’s cover from their MTV Unplugged album
Que alguien me diga si han visto a mi esposo,
Preguntaba la Doña.
Se llama Ernesto X. Tiene cuarenta años.
Trabaja de celador, en un negocio de carros.
Llevaba camisa oscura y pantalón claro.
Someone tell me if they have seen my husband,
Asked the madam.
His name is Ernesto X. He is forty years old.
He works as a guard, in a car dealership business.
He had a dark shirt and light pants.
Salió anteanoche y no ha regresado
Y no sé ya qué pensar,
Pues esto antes no me había pasado.
Oooo…
He went out the night before last night and he has not returned
And I don’t know what to think anymore,
Because this had never happened to me before.
Oooo…
“Pain and Passion”
Album: Frisbee, 2002
Style: Emo rock about pain and wanting love.
Country: Venezuela
Listen: YouTube
Dolor, eres todo lo que tengo, tuve o haya tenido.
Yo te pido que no me hagas nunca más sentir dolor.
Dolor, se separa del placer por una línea delgada.
Otra velada, confrontada con la autoflagelación.
Pain, you are all I have, had, or have had.
I ask you that you never again make me feel pain.
Pain, it is separated from pleasure by a thin line.
Another evening, confronted with self-flagellation.
Songlations 
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