Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“I Am Here” Song Translation
Album: Piez Descalzos (Bare Feet), 1995
Style: Rock, brunette Shakira, nostalgia about a past love with touches of obsession and sadness
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube, Amazon; Carla Morrison cover
Ya sé que no vendrás.
Todo lo que fue,
El tiempo lo dejo atras.
I already know you won’t come.
Everything that was,
Time has left behind.
“Shadow of You” Lyrics
Album: ¿Dondé Están Los Ladrones? (Where Are The Thieves?), 1998
Style: Late 90’s rock, melancholy song about post-breakup sadness. Very mellow, sort of haunting.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Voy a dejar
Que mi guitarra diga todo lo que yo
No sé decir por mí.
I am going to let
My guitar say everything that I
Cannot say for myself.
“Do Not Threaten Me” Lyrics
Style: Ranchera, old heartbreak song. Poor José Alfredo is so heartbroken and the breakup is not even official yet.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
No me amenaces. No me amenaces.
Cuando estes decidida a buscar otra vida,
Pos agarra tu rumbo y vete.
Do not threaten me. Do not threaten me.
When you have decided to seek another life,
Well, take your path and go.
“Question” Lyrics
Style: Pasillo, heartsickness
Country: Ecuador
Listen at YouTube. Julio Jaramillo would rather be stabbed in the gut than lied to about love. He just wants the truth. I love the lyrics. They are clear and concise but so poetic.
Ya no creo en nada.
Hasta dudo de ti.
Siento desconfianza.
Ya no creo ni en mí.
I no longer believe in anything.
I doubt even you.
I feel distrust.
I no longer believe even in me.
“Action and Reaction” Lyrics Translation
Album: Greatest Hits, 2004
Style: Electric pop, love song. This is a song about two people from different ethnicities and backgrounds in love. It does not matter that they are different; they are in love!
Country: Mexico
Listen: live version; pre-recorded album version;
Que tú prefieras los Beatles
Y yo Juan Gabriel,
No importa que sea otro el ritmo
Pero aquí es cuestion de piel.
That you prefer The Beatles [*old, famous British band]
And me, Juan Gabriel, [*old, famous Mexican ranchera singer]
No matter the different rhythm [*lit. No matter that the rhythm be another]
(But here) it’s a matter of skin.
“Crazy” (2009 single)
Style: Pop, quick pace, danceable. Weird song about a guy waking up in the wrong bed in the wrong house, totally confused and agitated. It’s a catchy song.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Intro:
——————————
Soy un caso singular
Que debiera analizar.
No sé que me dieron,
Ni lo que me hicieron,
Pero ya no soy normal.
I am an exceptional case
That you should analyze. [*formal “you”]
I do not know what they gave me,
Nor what they did to me,
But I am no longer normal.
“Waka Waka This is Africa”
Official song of 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa; June 11 – July 11
Album: Sale El Sol (The Sun Comes Out), 2010
Country: Colombia
Style: Upbeat, cheerful. Note that Shakira has an official English version called “Waka Waka This Time for Africa.” This, however, is the translation of the Spanish version. It’s interesting to compare how different parts of the world will think of the FIFA 2010 song, since the lyrics are not completely the same.
Listen: YouTube Spanish version
Llego el momento,
Caen las murallas,
Va a comenzar
La única justa de la batallas.
The moment has come,
The walls fall,
It is going to begin,
The only one of the battles that is just.
“The Problem” Lyrics Translation
Album: Santo Pecado (Blessed Sin), 2002
Style: Pop, romantica, foolish adoration. This guy adores a girl who is not serious about the relationship and he is leaving himself very vulnerable.
Country: Guatemala
Listen: YouTube
El problema no fue hallarte,
El problema es olvidarte.
El problema no es tu ausencia,
El problema es que te espero.
The problem was not finding you,
The problem is forgetting you.
The problem is not your absence,
The problem is that I wait for you.
“Give It To Me”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Rock, shamelessly sleazy. Juanes wants to seduce a woman and “get to know her” tonight. Oh Juanes.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Intro whispers:
Ey… sí, tú… sí, sí, tú que está ahí. Escucha, ey…
Hey… yeah, you… yeah, yeah, you right there. Listen, hey…
¿Qué tengo que hacer para tener
En mi labios esos tus labiecitos bonitos?
¿Qué te tengo que hacer para tener
De tu sabor un poquito?
What do I have to do to have
In my lips those pretty little lips of yours?
What do I have to do to have
Of your taste a little?
“A Type of Love”
Album: La Vida Es Un Ratico (Life is a Brief Moment), 2007
Style: Rock, bitter love, breakup. Juanes sings about a dysfunctional relationship at the point of breakup. If this is the type of love that is offered, Juanes doesn’t want it.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Tú ya lo sabes que nadie como yo te amó,
Que nadie nunca te entregó
El corazón de la manera como lo hice yo.
You already know it, that nobody loved you like me,
That nobody ever surrendered
His heart to you the way that I did.
“Look at Life” Lyrics
Album: MTV Unplugged Julieta Venegas, 2008
Style: Optimistic upbeat song, a bit hypnotic, about life saying yes to you and you saying yes to life, about looking forward to the future, about celebrating a birth.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Chorus:
————————————–
Mira la vida abriéndose camino.
Mira la vida diciendo que sí.
Look at life opening a way for itself.
Look at life saying yes.
————————————–
(x2)
“Revolution”
Album: Pájaros en la cabeza (Birds in my head), 2005
Style: Rock. A song about wanting freedom and to be heard.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Somos demasiados y no podrán pasar
Por encima de los años que tuvimos que callar,
Por los libros prohibidos y las entradas secretas.
We are many and they will not be able to pass
Over the years that we had to keep quiet,
Because of the forbidden books and the secret entrances.
Songlations 
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