“Una Vida Buena” (A Good Life) by Kany García, English translation

“A Good Life” Lyrics Translation
Album: Una Vida Buena (A Good Life), 2023
Style: Pop/rock. Aspirational song about wanting to leave a bad marriage and live a good life, without the awfulness of current life.
Country: Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube

Translation:

Me desperté cansada,
Cansada de vivir en una vida que no me da nada.
Tan triste, aburrida, deprimida, pero con más ganas
De hacer una maleta y mandar todo pa’ la chingada.

I woke up tired,
Tired of living in a life that gives me nothing.
So sad, tired, depressed, but with a stronger urge
To pack a bag and leave everything to hell.

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“No Habrá Nadie En El Mundo” (There Will Be No One in the World) by Concha Buika, English translation and meaning

“There Will Be No One in the World” Lyrics
Album: Niña de Fuego (Girl of Fire), 2008. Nominated for “Album of the Year” in the 2008 Latin Grammy Awards.
Style: Pop, jazz, tropical music. Song about a heartbreak.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

Desde que el agua es libre,
Libre entre manantiales vive.
Jazmines han llora’o y yo no comprendo
Cómo en tus ojos, niña, solo hay desierto.

Since the water was free,
Free among running springs, it lives.
Jasmines have cried and and I don’t understand
How in your eyes, girl, there is only a desert.

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“Ni Me Debes, Ni Te Debo” (You Don’t Owe Me, Nor I You) by Carin León and Camilo, English translation

“You Don’t Owe Me, Nor I You”
Album: Comillo De Leche (Milk Fang), 2023
Style: Northern Mexican regional pop about a mutual breakup. Sad but accepting and not angry.
Country: Mexico, Colombia
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

Tengo que irme porque me siento muy triste,
Aquí no hay nada, esta historia se acabó.

I have to leave because I feel so sad,
There is nothing here, this story has ended.

Te dejo libre,

Fuiste tú la que perdiste.
No es tan sencillo encontrarse

Un gran amor.

I leave you free,
It was you who lost.
It isn’t so easy to find oneself
A great love.

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“Sin Cariño y Sin Amor” (Without Affection or Love) by Tania Libertad, English translation

“Without Affection and Without Love” Lyrics
Album: Momentos De Amor (Moments of Love), 2011
Style: Bolero about an ex who didn’t show affection or love, and wishing that destiny lets him feel that sadness also.
Country: Peru, Mexico
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

¿Para qué vivir fingiendo
Si la vida es corta y, a veces, tan cruel?
¿Para qué seguir soñando
Con aquel cariño que ha de ser infiel
?

Why live pretending
If life is short and, sometimes, so cruel?
Why keep dreaming
About that sweetheart who has to be unfaithful?

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“Si Tú Me Quisieras” (If You Loved Me) by Mon Laferte, English translation

“If You Loved Me” Lyrics Translated
Album: Mon Laferte Vol.1, 2015
Style: Pop rock, ballad. Post-breakup song about fighting to forget the other person, and also being upset that things would be fine if the other person just loved them.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube [song begins at 0:48]

Lyrics Translation:

Me despedí, pero te mentí,
No me quería alejar.

Disimulé, me aguanté,
Pero es que ya no puedo más.

I said my farewell, but I lied,
I didn’t want to distance myself.
I pretended, I bore it,
But it’s just that I can’t take it anymore.

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“Ya No Vuelvas” (Don’t Return Anymore) by Lupita Infante, English translation

“Don’t Return Anymore” Lyrics
Album: Amor Como en las Películas de Antes (Love Like in the Old Movies), 2023
Style: Ranchera about a heartbroken woman at a bar, singing to her no good ex that he should not seek her out again. Lupita Infante is the granddaughter of famous Mexican performers Pedro Infante and Lupita Torrentera.
Country: USA (Los Angeles, CA); Mexico
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

Sirvanme otra pa’ olvidarlo
Porque aqui lo traigo adentro
Y de mi quiero arrancarlo.

Serve me another to forget him
Because I carry him here inside me
And from inside me I want to tear him out.

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“Supermercado” (Supermarket) by Mon Laferte, English translation

“Supermarket” Lyrics Translation
Album: 1940 Carmen, 2021
Style: Alternative rock song about a couple shopping at a supermarket after a fight, avoiding looking at each other, and suffering.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube

Lyrics Translation:

Pasillo 2 me invita a comprar
Cosas que no hacen falta,
Y el alivio comercial, y la risa falsa.

Aisle two invites me to buy
Things that aren’t needed,
And the consumerist relief, and false laughter.

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“La Ingrata” (Ingrate) by Café Tacvba, cover by La Santa Cecilia and Mon Laferte, English translation

“Ingrate”
Albums: Re, 1994; Amar y Vivir (To Love and To Live), 2017
Style: Original version is a mix of a Mexican corrido norteño and grunge rock. The cover song starts as a ballad and becomes a tango. Song to an “ungrateful” ex-lover who keeps coming back and causing pain. Warning: violent end.
Countries: Mexico City (Café Tacvba); USA, Mexico, Chile (La Santa Cecilia and Mon Laferte)
Listen: Café Tacvba (original); Duet by La Santa Cecilia and Mon Laferte (cover)

Lyrics Translation:

Ingrata,
No me digas que me quieres,
No me digas que me adoras,
Que me amas,
Que me extrañas,
Que ya no te creo nada
.

Ingrate,
Don’t tell me that you care for me,
Don’t tell me that you adore me,
That you love me,
That you miss me,
For I no longer believe anything you say.

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“Estos Celos” (This Jealousy) by Vicente Fernández, English translation

“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

Lyrics Translation:

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.

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“Como Quien Pierde Una Estrella” (Like How One Loses a Star) by Alejandro Fernández, English translation

“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

Lyrics Translation:

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.

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“Sueño Con Ella” (I Dream of Her) by Concha Buika, English translation

“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

Lyrics Translation:

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)

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“La Derrota” (The Great Fall) by Vicente Fernández, 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

Lyrics Translation:

¡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.

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