Spanish song lyrics translated to English: side-by-side lyrics, song meanings, and translation notes for people learning Spanish.
“With a Single Hit” Lyrics
Style: Heavy Metal
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube (live performance)
Hay canciones que se escriben
Con las lágrimas
Y se cantan con la sangre
En la garganta.
Es porque el corazón explota
A golpe de la distancia.
There are songs that are written
With tears
And are sung with blood
In the throat.
It’s because the heart explodes,
Blown up from a distance.
“A Bit [of Your Heart]” Lyrics
Album: ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños? (Where Will the Children Play?), 1992; Maná MTV Unplugged, 1999; Luna (Moon), 2003
Style: Acoustic rock, simple one-sided romance song asking for a little love.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube (recorded, live)
Tan solo un adicto,
Un adicto de tu sol
Y es que con solo un cachito,
Un pedacito de tu luz,
Yo llegaría al cielo
O me caería al suelo
Por ti, amor.
Just an addict,
An addict of your sun
And it’s just that with only a bit,
A piece of your light,
I would reach the heavens
Or I would fall to the ground
For you, my love.
“Story of a Dream” Lyrics
Album: Lo Que Te Conte Mientras Te Hacias La Dormida (What I Told You When You Pretended to Sleep), 2003
Style: Bittersweet love song to a child, from a dead loved one who sends a message through dream to let them know that everything is ok. This song makes me tear up a bit. ♥
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Perdona que entré sin llamar.
No es esta la hora y menos el lugar.
Tenía que contarte que en el cielo no se está tan mal.
Forgive me for entering without warning.
This isn’t the time and even less the place.
I had to tell you that it isn’t so bad up in heaven.
Mañana ni te acordarás,
“Tan sólo fue un sueño,” te repetirás.
Y en forma de respuesta, pasará una estrella fugaz.
Tomorrow you won’t even remember,
“It was only a dream,” you will repeat to yourself.
And in (form of an) answer, a shooting star will pass.
“Ay Daddy” Lyrics
Singer: Alicia Villarreal
Style: Regional Mexican, joyful dance song, about being happy being in love and being happy dancing. This song was nominated for Best Regional Mexican Song in the 2003 Latin Grammy Awards.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
[Hablado:]
(Risa)
Parece que me están esperando.
¿Es cierto? ¿Ya estamos listos?
¿Hey? ¿Que cosa? Ya está corriendo,
Subele, subele dame más volmen,
Que se sienta el ritmo.
[Speaking:]
(Laughter)
It looks like they’re waiting for me.
Is it true? Are we ready?
Huh? What was that? It’s started (running) now,
Raise the volume, raise it, give it more,
So you can feel the rhythm.
“May God Not Want It” Lyrics
Style: Romantic song lamenting a lover who is pulling away.
Country: Mexico
Composed by: Enrique Sánchez Alonso (Mexico)
Listen, sung by: Tania Libertad, Ana Gabriel, Javier Solis, Los Tres Ases, and many more.
Dios no lo quiera
Pero presiento que has dejado de quererme.
En estos días se te nota diferente,
Se han vuelto frías tus caricias de repente.
May God not let it be
But I feel that you no longer love me.
In these days, your presence is different,
Your caresses have turned cold suddenly.
“That You Return”
Album: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (Where Are The Thieves?), 1998
Style: Ballad/rock about wanting someone to return.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
¿Y qué voy a hacer con mi despiste selectivo,
Y con mi sueño frustrado de aprender a cocinar?
¿Y qué voy a hacer con los domingos y feriados?
Ningún plan es apropiado
Cuando intento no pensar.
And what am I going to do with my selective tangents
And my frustrated dream of learning how to cook?
And what am I going to do with Sundays and holidays?
No plan is appropriate
When I try to stop thinking.
“Much Too Late”
Style: Emo alternative rock with folk music elements about unfulfilled potential and wanting to change
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Rondaba los veinte años
Y sin darse cuenta ya era toda una mujer
Había empeñado su vida, aunque no lo sabia,
En hacerle feliz a él.
Pero nadie la escuchó,
Cuando en silencio gritó…
She was roaming those twenty years
And without realizing it she was fully a woman
She had pawned her life, though she didn’t know it,
To make him happy.
But nobody heard her,
When in silence she yelled…
“Todo Tiende”
Album: Techarí (Free), 2006
Style: Fast-paced flamenco/hip hop.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Mendigando eternidades,
Mendigos piden a mendigos
Lo que no tienen ni pueden darse.
Panhandling eternities,
Vagrants ask vagrants
For what they do not have nor can give each other.
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“Combatant” Lyrics
Album: Amar es Combatir (To Love is To Battle), 2006
Style: Latin rock
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Desde crió, me conducían el soñar.
Toda era imposición.
Desde niño, controlaban lo que iba a pensar.
Mataban la ilusión.
“The Sun Rose” or “The Sun Appeared” or “The Sun is Here”
Album: King of Kings, 2006
Style: Reggaeton
Country: Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube
CHORUS A:
———————————————–
Salió el sol-oh-ol…
Cuerpo bronceado y sus amigas buscaban acción.
La canción…
Que causa en ellas y sus cuerpos esa sensación,
Reggaeton-oh-on…
Piden Reggaeton-oh-on…
Del mejor…
(Pon the river, pon the river, pon the river, pon the bank, pon the bank)
Sientan la presión.
The sun appeared-eh-eared…
Bronzed body and her friends were seeking action.
The song…
What causes in them and their bodies that sensation,
Reggaeton-oh-on…
They ask for reggaeton-oh-on…
Of the best…
(Pon the river, pon the river, pon the river, pon the bank, pon the bank)
Feel the pressure.
———————————————–
“The Book” Lyrics
Album: Dile al Sol (Tell the Sun)
Style: Jazzy
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Qué distinto parece el mundo al girar,
Si sonríes sentada en cualquier bar,
Conversando sobre la eternidad.
How different the world looks as it spins,
If you smile sitting in any bar,
Speaking about eternity.
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