Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“Forbidden Love”
Album: Amor Prohibido, 1994
Style: Pop love song. This is a very Romeo and Juliette style of love song, about love between people of different social classes and the disapproval from others.
Country: USA (Texas)
Listen: YouTube
Con unas ansias locas quiero verte hoy.
Espero ese momento en que escuche tu voz.
With a crazy yearning I want to see you today.
I await that moment when I can hear your voice.
“Fatality”
Style: Pasillo eulogy mourning a lost love. Very poetic.
Country: Ecuador
Listen: YouTube
Nocturno de celaje deslumbrante,
Tu encanto rememoro a cada instante,
Romance de un momento en que viviera.
Nocturne of glittering, hued sky,
I recall your charm at every instant,
The romance of a moment I would live.
“The King”
Composer: José Alfredo Jiménez
Style: Ranchera very popular in Mexico. This is one of José Alfredo’s most famous songs.
Country: Mexico
Listen on YouTube: José Alfredo Jiménez (original), Vicente Fernandez, Alejandro Fernández, and now George Strait (possibly because of my translation? I don’t know, but if so, I am very honored!)
Yo sé bien que estoy afuera
Pero el día que yo me muera
Sé que tendrás que llorar.
(Llorar y llorar, x2)
I am fully aware that I am out
But the day that I die
I know that you will have to cry.
(Cry and cry, x2)
Dirás que no me quisiste,
Pero vas a estar muy triste
Y así te vas a quedar.
You will say that you did not love me,
But you will be very sad
And that is how you will stay.
“Mine Soul”
Style: Pasillo love song serenade from mid-20th century Ecuador. Julio Jaramillo’s lyrics are so poetic.
Country: Ecuador
Listen: YouTube
[Spoken by observers:]
La cuarta canción y no sale.
¡La cuarta!
The fourth song and she does not come out.
The fourth!
[Serenade begins:]
El día que me olvides, alma mía,
Yo sé que existirás en mi penar,
Al verme solo, triste y olvidado,
Mi vida la haría arrancar. (x2)
“(Kiss Me) Softly”
Album: Suavemente, 1998
Genre: Merengue song about wanting a kiss
Country: Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube
Chorus:
————————————–
Suavemente, besame
Que quiero sentir tus labios
Besandome otra vez.
(x2)
Softly, kiss me
Because I want to feel your lips
Kissing me again.
(x2)
————————————–
“It Was Worth It”
Album: Valió La Pena (It Was Worth It), 1995
Style: Salsa, celebrating love, a romantic loved one, and everything it took to get to this point. The album won a 2005 Latin Grammy for “Best Salsa Album”.
Country: USA (New York); Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube
Mirándote a los ojos se responden mis por qués.
Me inspiro en tus palabras y mi casa está en tu piel.
Qué tierno amor, mi devoción, viniste a ser mi religión,
Mi dulce sentimiento,
De nada me arrepiento.
Looking into your eyes my why’s are answered.
I become inspired in your words and my home is on your skin.
What tender love, my devotion, you came to be my religion,
My sweet emotion,
I regret nothing.
“Asteroid” Lyrics
Album: Zoé (Zoe), 2008
Style: Rock song using an asteroid metaphor for a relationship
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Déjate ver,
Estuvo chido poder besar (*)
Tu estereocuerpo lunar,
Tus ojos brillan más cada vez.
Let yourself be seen,
It was nice being able to kiss (*)
Your stereobody beauty spot,
Your eyes shine more very time.
“Your Guardian”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Slow rock to a loved one, a soothing promise song saying you’ll protect them and telling them to sleep soundly. It sounds like a parent to a child, but the relationship isn’t specified so it could also be sung to a lover.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Duermete pronto, mi amor
Que la noche ya llegó,
Y cierra tus ojos que yo
De tus sueños cuidaré.
Go to sleep soon, my love
That the night has come,
And close your eyes sure that I
Will guard your dreams.
“Rosario Tijeras”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Pop/rock, wild west feel, biography of a (fictional) legend. The film Rosario Tijeras (2005) is the second highest grossing film in Colombia’s history. This song is the opening for one of the two novelas about Rosario Tijeras, a real tough lady.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
En la calle,
En la esquina,
En la plaza,
En la cuadra, Papá.
Está de vuelta la Rosario Tijeras
Pa’ que se escondan.
On the street,
On the corner,
On the plaza,
On the block, Daddy.
Rosario Tijeras has come back
So you (should) all flee.
“I Am Not Worth Anything Without Your Love”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Soft rock, love song about feeling weak without them and strong with them.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Cuando el tiempo pasa
Y nos hacemos viejos,
Nos empieza a parecer
Que pesan más los daños
Que los mismos años al final
When time passes
And we grow old,
It starts to seem to us
That the harms weigh more
Than the very years in the end
“Nothing To Lose” Lyrics
Album: Revolucción de Amor (Love Revolution), 2002
Style: Rock, optimistic
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Ya me harté de estar aburrido,
No tengo más tiempo que perder,
Me voy a largar en busca de un sueño,
De nuevo a empezar, un nuevo día vendrá.
I have had it up to here with being bored,
I have no more time to lose,
I am going to leave in search of a dream,
Starting over anew, a new day will come.
“For Your Love”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Soft rock, sweet
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Para tu amor lo tengo todo,
Desde mi sangre hasta la esencia de mi ser,
Y para tu amor que es mi tesoro,
Tengo mi vida toda entera a tus pies.
For you love I have it all,
Down from my blood up to the very essence of my being,
And for your love that is my treasure,
I have my life all complete at your feet.
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