Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“This Jealousy”
Album: Para Siempre (Forever), 2007
Style: Orchestral ranchera, mariachi, regional Mexican from Jalisco. Bittersweet love song about missing an ex who has moved on.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Te miré,
Estabas tan bonita,
Tan sensual,
Te imaginé ajena y me hizo mal.
I saw you,
You were so pretty,
So sensual,
I imagined you a stranger and it made me ill.
“Like How One Loses a Star”
Album: Que Seas Muy Feliz (May You Be Very Happy), 1995
Style: Wailing prayer and mourning after the loss of a lover (likely by breakup), with orchestral mariachi.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Te quiero,
Lo digo como un lamento,
Como un quejido que el viento
Se lleva por donde quiera.
I love you,
I say it like a lament,
Like a howl that the wind
Takes away wherever it goes.
“With You”
Album: El Renacimiento (The Rebirth), 2022
Style: Alterinative/indie. Love song about finding your soulmate, your true love. This would be a good wedding song. It can also be interpreted as a self-love song or the welcoming song for a newborn baby.
Country: Mexico, USA (Arizona)
Listen: YouTube
Hoy en ti brilla el sol,
La razón de mi vida llegó.
Veo en ti la ilusión,
Tu mirada me inunda en calor.
Today on you shines the sun,
The reason for my life has arrived.
I see in you hope and dreams,
Your eyes drown me in warmth.
“I Dream of Her”
Album: In My Skin (In My Skin), 2011; La Noche Más Larga (The Longest Night), 2013
Style: Piano jazz, dreaming and reminiscing about a lost relationship.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Frente a las olas del mar y bajo las estrellas,
Yo… sueño con ella, yo sueño con ella.
(x4)
Before the waves of the sea and below the stars,
I… dream of her, I dream of her.
(x4)
“I Gift to You”
Album: Amor Supremo Desnudo (Supreme Naked Love), 2017
Style: Romantic indie pop with a slow melancholy tone. Love song about dedicating your life to someone. This would be good first dance song for a wedding reception.
Country: Mexico, USA (Arizona)
Listen: YouTube
Déjame tomarte de la mano,
Déjame mirarte a los ojos,
Déjame, a través de mi mirada,
Darte todo mi esplendor.
Let me take you by the hand,
Let me look you in the eyes,
Let me, through my gaze,
Give you all my splendor.
“Hopefully You Dare”
Album: Vive (Live), 2005
Style: Ranchera about pulling a crush out of their shyness to start a relationship.
Country: USA (Texas), with Mexican slang
Listen: YouTube
[Intro]
–Oye comp’re, hay una güerita que – no, hombre – me está cayendo, ‘ira. Aqui dentro del corazón.
-¿A poco? ¿En serio? Pues conquístala.
-Pero pues ¿cómo le hago?
-Flores, chocolates a veces.
–M’no, pues yo andaba pensando más una serenata.
-¿Una serenata?
–Una serenata.
-¡Pero tú no cantas!
-¡Pero TÚ sí!
[Intro translation]
-Hey compadre, there’s this blonde girl who – no, man – she catching on me, look. Here inside my heart.
-Really? Serious? Well, get her!
-But then, how do I do it?
-Flowers, chocolate sometimes.
-Uh no, see I was thinking more a serenade.
-A serenade?
-A serenade.
-But you don’t sing!
-But YOU do!
Continue reading ““Ojalá Te Animes” (Hopefully You Dare) by Bobby Pulido, English translation”“The Great Fall”
Album: Para Siempre (Forever), 2007
Style: Ranchera about the downfall of a relationship after infidelity, and the regret afterward.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
¡Ay, ay, ay, ja, ja, ja!
Por darle rienda suelta a mis antojos,
Por no tener conciencia del abismo,
Por eso ayer hice llorar sus ojos,
Y hoy mis ojos también hacen lo mismo.
For giving my whims free reign,
For not being aware of the abyss,
For that yesterday I made her eyes cry,
And today my eyes also do the same.
“My Dear Love”
Album: La Trenza (The Braid), 2017
Style: Oldie-style romantic slow dance ballad, but about a break up. This is a slow dance break up song!
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Mi buen amor
Pues, la verdad, no hay otra cosa que yo pueda hacer.
Tú no cambiarás, no me vas a convencer
De que ahora sí, todo va a estar bien.
My dear love
Well, truly, there is no other thing that I can do.
You won’t change, you won’t convince me
That now for sure, everything will be fine.
“Drops of Sweet Water” or “Drops of Freshwater”
Album: La Vida… es un Ratico (Life… Is a Moment), 2007
Style: Pop/rock, love song about a person being a breath of fresh air and important for life, like freshwater, like rays of sunshine. This would be a good wedding song.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Hace mucho tiempo no me enamoraba
De unos ojos tan bonitos,
Comunes de lozano brillo.
It has been a long time since I fell in love
With a pair of eyes so beautiful,
So ordinary, with healthy brightness.
Era lo que menos en mi plan estaba
Aunque te admito que a veces soñaba
Con la belleza de tu mirada.
It was what was least in my plans
Though I admit to you that sometimes I dreamed
With the beauty of your gaze.
“It Is You”
Album: Dejénme Llorar (Let Me Cry), 2012
Style: Alternative rock, pop, romantic song for The One. It would be a good wedding song.
Country: Mexico, USA (Arizona)
Listen: YouTube
Happy new year, everyone!
Hoy desperté con ganas de besarte.
Tengo una sed de acariciarte,
Enredarme a ti y no soltarte,
Eres tan embriagante.
Eres tú,
Eres tú~uh.
Today I woke up with the desire to kiss you.
I thirst to caress you,
To entangle myself with you and not let you go,
You are so intoxicating.
It is you,
It is you~uh.
“On the Dock of San Blas”
Album: Sueños Líquidos (Liquid Dreams), 1997
Style: Latin rock, probably a classic song by now. It is the legend of the woman at the dock of a San Blas island, who stood on the dock and waited for her lover to return, always, and who fell in love with the sea while waiting.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Ella despidió a su amor.
Él partió en un barco en el muelle de San Blas.
Él juró que volvería
Y, empapada en llanto, ella juró que esperaría.
She bid farewell to her lover.
He left on a boat from the dock at San Blas.
He swore he would return
And, puffed up with tears, she swore that she would wait.
“I Woke Up in Your Arms”
Style: Ranchera, love song about waking up in your lover’s arms and spending the full day and night in bed together. One of Jose Alfredo Jimenez’s 100 Mexican classic songs.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Amanecí otra vez
Entre tus brazos
Y desperté llorando
De alegría.
I woke up again
In your arms
And I woke up crying
From joy.
Songlations 
You must be logged in to post a comment.