Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“Profound Love”
Style: Vals (Waltz). Love song.
Country: Ecuador
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Yo no creí
Que al cabo de los años
Fuera a encontrar
Un amor como el tuyo.
I did not believe
That after all these years
I would find
A love like yours.
“First Day”
Album: Limon y Sal (Lemon and Salt), 2006
Style: Pop, love song, possibly breakup song, possibly the start of a new relationship though it sounds like one person wants it more than the other.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
“The Only One” Lyrics
Album: Un Día Normal (A Normal Day), 2002
Style: Rock, love song, sweet. Juanes sings about his irreplaceable, incomparable lover. It is a sweet love song from an old album.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Yo te quiero a ti.
Yo no quiero a nadie más.
Porque eres tú la que me hace suspirar.
I love you. [*querer (verb) = to love; to want]
I want no one else.
Because it is you who makes me sigh.
“From the Moment I Wake Up” or “Since I Wake Up”
Album: Un Día Normal (A Normal Day), 2002
Style: Pop, love song
Country: Colombia
Mira que mis ojos ven mejor si tú eres la luz
Y mi espera no es eterna si tú eres el final.
Look how my eyes see better if you are the light
And my wait is not eternal if you are the end.
“I Don’t Believe” Translated Lyrics
Album: ¿Dondé Están Los Ladrones? (Where Are The Thieves?), 1998
Style: Rock, brunette Shakira, love song about believing in a person over anyone or anything else. Their love is the most true and real thing for them.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Chorus 1:
————————————————————1
Sólo tú sabes bien quien soy
Y por eso es tuyo mi corazón.
Sólo tú doblas mi razón
Y por eso a donde tú quieras voy.
Only you know (well) who I am
And that’s why you have my heart.
Only you can break my reason
And that’s why where you want me to go, I go.
————————————————————/1
“Action and Reaction” Lyrics Translation
Album: Greatest Hits, 2004
Style: Electric pop, love song. This is a song about two people from different ethnicities and backgrounds in love. It does not matter that they are different; they are in love!
Country: Mexico
Listen: live version; pre-recorded album version;
Que tú prefieras los Beatles
Y yo Juan Gabriel,
No importa que sea otro el ritmo
Pero aquí es cuestion de piel.
That you prefer The Beatles [*old, famous British band]
And me, Juan Gabriel, [*old, famous Mexican ranchera singer]
No matter the different rhythm [*lit. No matter that the rhythm be another]
(But here) it’s a matter of skin.
“Look at Life” Lyrics
Album: MTV Unplugged Julieta Venegas, 2008
Style: Optimistic upbeat song, a bit hypnotic, about life saying yes to you and you saying yes to life, about looking forward to the future, about celebrating a birth.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Chorus:
————————————–
Mira la vida abriéndose camino.
Mira la vida diciendo que sí.
Look at life opening a way for itself.
Look at life saying yes.
————————————–
(x2)
“Anthology”
Album: Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos (Bare Feet, White Dreams), 1995
Style: Ballad about the impact of a first love on someone’s life. Shakira sings “Antología” (Anthology) to reflect on the positive impact of a past relationship and everything she learned from it.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Para amarte
Necesito una razón
Y es difícil creer
Que no exista una más
Que este amor.
To love you
I need a reason
And it is difficult to believe
That there wouldn’t exist one more
Than this love.
“Eres Mi Religion” (You Are My Religion) by Maná
Album: Revolucíon de Amor (Revolution of Love), 2002
Style: Latin rock song about a man who was low, depressed, unhappy… then met the love of his life and his life brightened. He calls her his blessing, his light, his sun. Love song to her.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Iba caminando por las calles empapadas en olvido.
Iba por los parques con fantasmas y con ángeles caídos.
Iba sin luz, iba sin sol,
Iba sin un sentido, iba muriéndome.
Iba volando sobre el mar con las alas rotas.
I went walking through streets soaked in oblivion.
I went through parks with ghosts and fallen angels.
I went without light, I went without sun,
I went without a feeling, I went dying.
I went flying over the sea on broken wings.
“Cinnamon Skin”, 1950s
Style: Romantic bolero. This is a popular oldies song written by Bobby Capó and sung by many. You might have seen it in commercials or heard the tune in elevators. Probably popularized best by Eydie Gorme y Los Panchos. I think it’s on the Nacho Libre soundtrack. This song is passed around a lot.
Country: Puerto Rico; United States (New York); Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Que se quede el infinito sin estrellas,
O que pierda el ancho mar su inmensidad,
Pero el negro (alt. el brillo) de tus ojos que no muera,
Y el canela de tu piel se quede igual.
May the infinite be left without stars,
Or may the wide sea lose its immenseness,
But may the blackness (alt. the glimmer) of your eyes never die,
And may the cinnamon of your skin stay the same.
“Blessed, Your Light”
Album: Amar es Combatir (To Love is to Fight)
Style: Sweet, love song. Maná sings a lot of bittersweet, ambiguous, and energetic songs. They sing about desperation and sexual tension and poverty and all sorts of sad affairs. This is none of that. This is a song about pure happiness and romantic bliss. It’s very sweet.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Bendito el lugar, y el motivo de estar ahí,
Bendita la coincidencia,
Bendito el reloj que nos puso puntual ahí,
Bendita sea tu presencia.
Blessed location, and the motive for being there,
Blessed the coincidence,
Blessed clock that set us there punctually,
Blessed be your presence.
Bendito Dios por encontrarnos en el camino,
Y de quitarme esta soledad de mi destino.
Bendita la luz, bendita la luz de tu mirada (x2)
Desde el alma.
Blessed God for introducing us on the road,
And for taking away this solitude from my destiny.
Blessed be the light, blessed be the light of your gaze (x2)
Coming from the soul.
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