Spanish song lyrics translated to English: side-by-side lyrics, song meanings, and translation notes for people learning Spanish.
“I Need You” Translation
Album: Te necesito (I need you), 2002
Style: Emo rock song about desperate love.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Oh, ¿cómo quieres que me aclare?
Si aún soy demasiado joven
Para entender lo que siento.
Oh, how do you want me to clarify myself?
If I am still too young
To understand what I feel.
“Hate Me” Lyrics
Style: Pasillo, post-breakup song, asking for anything but indifference. Julio Jaramillo’s lyrics are always emotional poetry.
Country: Ecuador
Listen: Julio Jaramillo (original), La Santa Cecilia ft. Noel Schajris (live cover)
Ódiame por piedad, yo te lo pido.
Ódiame sin medida ni clemencia.
Odio quiero más que indiferencia,
Porque el rencor quiere menos que el olvido.
(x2)
Hate me for mercy’s sake, I ask (this of) you.
Hate me without measure or clemency.
I want hate more than indifference,
Because resentment asks less than oblivion.
(x2)
“Tainted” Song Translation
Style: Slow rock, cynical but interesting. Song about corruption and crime.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
En el país del sagrado corazón
A nadie se le puede dar la absolución,
Cuando el billete es emperador.
In the country of the sacred heart
Absolution can be given to nobody,
When the banknote is emperor.
“Evil”
Album: Pafuera Telaraña (Outtahere, Spiderwebs), 2005
Style: Rock/flamenco/hip hop, wispy voice, anti-domestic violence. This artist won a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist in 2005.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Apareciste una noche fría
Con olor a tabaco sucio y a ginebra,
El miedo ya me recorría
Mientras cruzaba los deditos tras la puerta.
You appeared one cold night
With the smell of dirty tobacco and of Ginebra, [*brand of alcohol]
The fear already ran through me
While I crossed my little fingers behind the door.
“Your Name”
Album: Esta Mañana y Otros Cuentos (This Morning and Other Stories), 2005
Style: Folk rock, romance song about the emotions attached to a lover’s name.
Countries: Argentina; Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Tu nombre es mi dulce castigo,
Mi sangre, mi droga y rubí,
Mi parte de vos, mi destino.
Tu nombre me sabe a jazmín.
Your name is my sweet punishment,
My blood, my drug and ruby,
My piece of you, my destiny.
Your name tastes of jasmine to me.
“Without You I Am Nothing”
Album: Estrella de Mar (Sea Star), 2002
Style: Emo pop/rock song about desperate love. After the breakup, she does not know what to do with herself.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Sin ti no soy nada,
Una gota de lluvia mojando mi cara,
Mi mundo es pequeño y mi corazón pedacitos de hielo.
Without you I am nothing,
A drop of rain wetting my face,
My world is small and my heart little pieces of ice.
“The Stars” Lyrics
Album: Miss Mujerzuela (Miss Ladytart), 2000
Style: Rock love song throwing roses at a romantic partner they think highly of.
Country: Venezuela
Listen: YouTube
Yo sé que sólo he sido un vagabundo,
Un sinvergüenza, un perro inmundo,
Una bala perdida, una hoja caída.
I know that I have only been a vagabond,
A scoundrel, a filthy dog,
A stray bullet, a fallen leaf.
“Against Winds and Tides”
Songwriter: Franco De Vita. Sung by: Chayanne
Style: Pop, smooth romantic. Slow lyrics good for beginner Spanish students.
Countries: Venezuela; Puerto Rico
(Note that there are different songs with this title sung by Intocable and Los Bukis.)
No me preguntes cómo sucedió
O si sera cierto, tal vez no.
Sólo sé que ahora estoy aquí
Y no hago otra cosa que pensar en ti,
Oh, pensar en ti.
Do not ask me how it happened
Or if it may be true, perhaps not.
All I know is that I am here now
And I do not do anything else but think of you,
Oh, think of you.
“Summer Days” or “Days of Summer” Song Translation
Album: Pájaros en la cabeza (Birds in my head), 2005
Style: Rock song about feeling like there aren’t enough summer days left to repair a relationship.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube. Those things that look like trees at 0:39 are maguey (agave) stalks.
No quedan días de verano para pedirte perdón,
Para borrar del pasado el daño que te hice yo,
Sin besos de despedida y sin palabras bonitas,
Porque te miro a los ojos y no me sale la voz.
There are no summer days left to ask for your forgiveness,
To erase from the past the harm that I did to you,
Without farewell kisses and without pretty words,
Because I look into your eyes and my voice does not come out.
“Mother Earth” (2006)
Album: Ingravitto, 2006
Style: Reggae. Earth Day is April 22.
Countries: Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Cameroon
Listen: YouTube
Spoken:
———————————————————
You can always close your eyes,
But you can’t close your ears.
Hay una cuestión de, yo diría,
Cómo es, de amor a la tierra, ¿no?
Es decir que somos parte de las raices de donde nacemos.
Entonces pensando en esto se nos ocurre una canción.
There is an issue of, I would say,
How is it, of love for the earth, no?
That is to say that we are part of the roots of where we are born.
So then thinking about this a song occurs to us.
———————————————————
“To Live Without Air”
Album: ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños? (Where Will The Children Play?), 1992
Style: Rock
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Cómo quisiera… Poder vivir sin aire.
Cómo quisiera… Poder vivir sin agua.
Me encantaría… Quererte un poco menos.
How I would love… To (be able to) live without air.
How I would love… To (be able to) live without water.
It would delight me… To love you a bit less.
“Before Seeing the Sun” Lyrics
Album: Coti, 2003
Style: Pop/rock song about waiting for a romantic interest to show interest back.
Country: Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Si te vas, se me va a hacer muy tarde
Y además, sólo intento cuidarte.
¿Ay cuándo, mi vida, cuándo
Va a ser el día que tu pared desaparezca?
If you leave, it is going to get very late for me
And what’s more, I only intend to take care of you.
Oh when, my love, when
Is it going to be the day that your wall disappears?
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