Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“The Universe Over Me”
Album: Pájaros en la cabeza (Birds on my head), 2005
Style: Folk pop/rock, about nostalgia and desire to find ones place in the world.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Sólo queda una vela
Encendida en medio de la tarta,
Y se quiere consumir…
There is only one candle left
Lit in the middle of the cake,
And it wants to die out…
“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.
“Resurrection” Translated
Album: Pájaros en la cabeza (Birds on my head), 2005
Style: Pop/rock, happy emo song that could be interpreted as romantic or as Christian rock. It’s a good song for Holy Week.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Uuuh~ Uuuh~ Uh uh uh uh~ Uuuh~
Siento que mi alma se encuentra perdida,
Que se junta la noche y el día.
I feel that my soul finds itself lost,
That the night and the day join together.
“The Storm Will Come” Song Lyrics Translated
Style: Bob Dylan tribute, released 2008 for La Exposición Internacional de Zaragoza, a festival in Spain. This is a tribute to Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. The lyrics are similar in many parts, but with slight variations.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Me han dicho que has vuelto por fin a tu casa.
¿Qué has visto en tu viaje por tierras lejanas?
They have told me that you’ve finally returned home.
What have you seen in your travel through far away lands?
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
———————————————————
“The Beach”
Album: El Viaje de Copperpot (The Journey of Copperpot), 2000
Style: Slow pop
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
No sé si aún me recuerdas,
Nos conocimos al tiempo
Tú, el mar y el cielo
Y quién me trajo a ti.
I do not know if you still remember me,
We met on time
You, the sea and the sky
And the one who brought me to you.
“On My Side of the Sofa” Lyrics
Album: Guapa (Good Looking), 2006
Style: Pop/rock song about devoted love, except it goes slightly too far and sounds like a stalker song. I find it funny. She says she will wait for him in the shadows!
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Te esperaré, no importa quien te bese.
Yo te esperaré, no importa que me quieras.
Yo te escucharé, si tú me has dado tanto,
Yo te esperaré y te daré mi vida entera.
I will wait for you, no matter who kisses you.
I will wait for you, it doesn’t matter if you want me.
I will listen to you, (how could I not) if you have given me so much,
I will wait for you and I will give you my whole life.
“It May Be”
Album: A Contracorriente (Against the Current), 2002
Style: Mellow pop rock, romantic duet, emphasis on vocals, few instruments. El Canto del Loco is a former Spanish pop rock band that I do not know very well yet. Amaia Montero is the former lead singer for the band La Oreja de Van Gogh (singing for them 1996-2007). I have translated several of LOVG’s songs. Amaia left LOVG to launch a solo career.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
No sé si quedan amigos,
Ni si existe el amor,
Si puedo contar contigo
Para hablar de dolor.
I don’t know if friends remain,
Nor if love exists,
(Nor) if I can count on you
To talk about pain.
Songlations 
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