Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“My Only Love” Lyrics
Album: Sin Pecado (Without Sin), 1996
Style: Cumbia, dance, love song about wanting to be together with your one special person, your only love, your true love.
Country: Mexico, Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Bueno —
Nos vamos con música, vengan ya,
A ver, las manos arriba y aplaudiendo todos, venga,
¡Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
¡Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
“I’ll See You At the Exit” Lyrics
Album: Puro Teatro (Pure Theater), 2020
Style: 1980s-style pop/rock about a forbidden or unconventional relationship. The singer wants to end the secrecy and come out into the open.
Country: Argentina
Listen: YouTube
No, ya no quiero soñar con tu sombra
Y tener que olvidarla de día.
Sé que es difícil, lo sé,
Que hay peligro también,
Que es historia prohibida.
No, I don’t want to dream of your shadow
And have to forget it by day.
I know it is difficult, I know,
That there’s danger also,
That it is a forbidden story.
“The Love of my Life” Lyrics
Album: Se Agradece (One Is Thankful), 2024
Style: Cumbia love song about being ready to start a life with someone. The lyrics have wordplay: ready to make love to you… I mean, to make you the love of my life!
Country: Mexico, Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Vámonos lejos de aquí,
Ay, papi, dime que sí,
Que ya yo estoy lista para amarte
Sin olvidarme de mí.
Let’s get away from here,
Oh daddy, tell me yes,
Because I’m ready to love you
Without forgetting about me.
“We Were Doing So Well” Lyrics
Album: Camas Separadas (Separate Beds), 2018
Style: Pop/rock, soft rock. A woman is taken by surprise by a breakup. She thought they were okay and laments that she didn’t even get the chance to address issues in the relationship.
Country: Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Me lo has dicho mil veces,
Se ha clavado en mi mente,
Decidiste partir por razones urgentes.
You have told me a thousand times,
It has gotten stuck in my head,
You decided to leave for urgent reasons.
“Let No One Know of My Suffering”
Style: Varies, but commonly in the style of a Peruvian waltz
Composer: Ángel Cabral (Argentina), 1936
Songwriter: Enrique Dizeo (Argentina)
Country: Sung by many, originally from Argentina
Listen: Renditions available at YouTube by: Los Lobos (USA, 1970s-current), Julio Jaramillo (Ecuador, 1950s pasillo), Maria Dolores Pradera (Spain, 1950s operatic), Sonora Dinamita (Colombian and Salvadorean, 1980s+ cumbia), Julio Iglesias (Spain, 1980s romantic), Lucha Reyes (Peru, 1970s), 웅산 Woong San (Korea, in Spanish, 2010s), Edith Piaf (France, in French with edited lyrics as La Foule, 1957), and many more.
No te asombres si te digo lo que fuiste:
Una ingrata con mi pobre corazón.
Porque el fuego de tus lindos ojos negros [*alt: el brillo]
Alumbraron el camino de otro amor.
Don’t be surprised if I tell you what you were:
An ingrate with my poor heart.
Because the fire of your lovely black eyes [*alt: the shine]
Lit up the path to another love.
“Like a Ghost” Lyrics, 2011
Style: Pop/rock, techno-inspired, about a love that haunts you. When you break up with someone, it can be hard to forget them. They linger in your mind… like a ghost. For more techno-influenced pop about moving on, see “Mi Mundo Sin Ti” by Soraya.
Countries: Argentina (born), Spain (raised)
Listen: YouTube
Decido no extrañarte,
Vestirme y levantarme,
Quiero escaparme de tu sombra.
I decide not to miss you,
To dress myself and get up,
I want to escape your shadow.
“Scouting Your Corner”
Style: 1945 Tango
Countries: Argentina (Enrique), Ecuador (Julio)
Listen: Renditions by Julio Jaramillo at YouTube (my favorite) and Enrique Cadícamo at a tango site (original composer).
Esta noche tengo ganas de buscarla,
De borrar lo que ha pasado y perdonarla.
This night I feel the urge to search for her,
To erase what happened and forgive her.
Ya no me importa el qué dirán
Ni de las cosas que hablarán…
¡Total la gente siempre habla!
It does not matter to me anymore what they will say
Nor the things they will talk about…
People always talk anyway!
“Soul, Heart and Life”
Style: Waltz, bolero, various adaptions. Translation of a classic song about a person very much in love. They sing about the three things they offer their lover: their soul to woe them, their heart to love them, and their life to spend with them. It is a sweet love song.
Countries: Many
Listen: Various versions. Trío Los Panchos (USA/Mexico), Dyango (Spain; live, slow performance), Los Embajadores Criollos (Peru), Soledad Pastorutti (Argentina, live, deep voice), Tania Libertad (Peru), and more on YouTube.
Recuerdo aquella vez
Que yo te conocí
Recuerdo aquella tarde
Pero no recuerdo ni como te vi.
I remember that time
When I first met you
I remember that afternoon
But I don’t even remember how I saw you.
“Absurd Cinderella” Lyrics
Album: Absurda Cenicienta, 2007
Style: Pop, about discovered betrayal.
Countries: Spain, Argentina
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
En un bar de mi barrio que no quiero recordar,
Vi a mi novio besando a mi amiga.
El dolor de saborear veneno tan letal,
Perder tiempo en dos seres que quería.
In a bar of my neighborhood that I do not want to remember,
I saw my boyfriend kissing my friend.
The pain of tasting poison so lethal,
To waste time on two beings that I loved.
“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.
“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?
“Rosa, Rosa”
Style: 1960s European-style precursor to rock and roll. This song celebrates a woman named Rosa.
Country: Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Ay, Rosa, Rosa tan maravillosa
Como blanca diosa,
Como flor hermosa
Tu amor me condena
A la dulce pena de sufrir.
Oh, Rosa, Rosa, so marvellous
Like a white goddess
Like a beautiful flower
Your love condemns me
To the sweet sorrow of suffering.
Songlations 
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