Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“Your Silence” Lyrics Translation
Album: Pafuera Telarañas (Get Outta Here, Cobwebs), 2004
Style: Melancholy sound
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Como quien tira de una cuerda que se romperá,
Tirar, tirar, tirar, tirar, tirar…
Como sin darse cuenta rozar un poco más,
Los ojos aún cerrados para no afrontar.
Like someone pulls on a rope that will break,
Pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling…
Like without realizing it, brushing a bit more,
Eyes still closed to avoid confronting.
“Disappearances” Song Translation
Album: Buscando America (Looking for America), 1984
Style: Political commentary, sad song
Countries: Panama, Mexico
Listen at YouTube: Rubén Blades, or Maná’s cover from their MTV Unplugged album
Que alguien me diga si han visto a mi esposo,
Preguntaba la Doña.
Se llama Ernesto X. Tiene cuarenta años.
Trabaja de celador, en un negocio de carros.
Llevaba camisa oscura y pantalón claro.
Someone tell me if they have seen my husband,
Asked the madam.
His name is Ernesto X. He is forty years old.
He works as a guard, in a car dealership business.
He had a dark shirt and light pants.
Salió anteanoche y no ha regresado
Y no sé ya qué pensar,
Pues esto antes no me había pasado.
Oooo…
He went out the night before last night and he has not returned
And I don’t know what to think anymore,
Because this had never happened to me before.
Oooo…
“Shared Lips” Lyrics Translation
Album: Amar Es Combatir (To Love is to Fight), 2006
Style: Rock, unhappy love song about an unfaithful lover or a lover who doesn’t commit to you. The album won a 2007 Grammy Award for “Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album”.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Amor mío,
Si estoy debajo del vaivén de tus piernas,
Si estoy hundido en un vaivén de caderas,
Esto es el cielo, es mi cielo.
My love,
If I am beneath the see-saw of your legs,
If I am sunken in a see-saw of hips,
This is heaven, it is my heaven.
“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.
“To Live Without Air”
Album: ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños? (Where Will The Children Play?), 1992
Style: Rock
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Cómo quisiera… Poder vivir sin aire.
Cómo quisiera… Poder vivir sin agua.
Me encantaría… Quererte un poco menos.
How I would love… To (be able to) live without air.
How I would love… To (be able to) live without water.
It would delight me… To love you a bit less.
“I Cried You A River”
Album: ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños? (Where Will The Children Play?), 1992
Style: Slow rock song about heartbreak, acceptance, and moving on.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Yo aquí llorándote un río,
Mandándome al olvido,
Qué cosa más injusta, amor.
Me here crying you a river,
Sending myself to oblivion,
What a most unjust thing, my love.
“Dear Sister” Lyrics
Album: Love & Hate, 2003
Style: Bachata, sorrowful. It’s a sad song about a man seeing his sister suffer domestic violence. He sings about his observations, how he fears for her, and how he wishes she left the monster.
Country: USA (New York); Dominican Republic
Listen: YouTube
Cómo pasan los años. Ayer eramos niños.
Mami y papi luchaban por nuestro porvenir.
Tú cuidabas de mí; hoy yo velo por ti.
Hermanita, te adoro. Sé que no eres feliz.
How the years pass. Yesterday we were children.
Mom and Dad struggled for our future.
You took care of me; today I stay awake for you.
Sister, I adore you. I know you are not happy.
“Poor Woman” / “Poor Devil”
Album: The Last Don, 2003
Style: Bachata. Sad song about a woman who cries for a man who doesn’t value her.
Country: Puerto Rico
Listen: YouTube
Verse 1:
Pobre diabla
Se dice que se te ha visto por la calle vagando,
Llorando por un hombre que no vale un centavo,
Pobre diabla y llora por un pobre diablo.
(x2)
Poor woman
It is said that you have been seen wandering the streets,
Crying for a man who is not worth a cent,
Poor woman and she cries for a poor devil.
(x2)
“When My Guitar Weeps”
Composer: Augusto Polo Campos
Album: El Ruiseñor de América (Julio Jaramillo), 1962
Style: Early 20th century pasillo. Melancholy romance song calling out to a lost lover through music.
Country: Peru
Listen: YouTube has renditions by Los Morochucos, Julio Jaramillo (my favorite), Tania Libertad, Eva Ayllon, Juan Diego Florez, and more.
Cansado de llamarte,
Con mi alma destrozada,
Comprendo que no vienes porque no quiere Dios.
Tired of calling you,
With my spirit shattered,
I understand that you do not come because God does not wish it.
“Paris” Lyrics
Album: El Viaje de Copperpot (Copperpot’s Voyage), 2000
Style: Pop, reminiscent of a romantic relationship.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Ven, acércate.
Ven y abrázame.
Vuelve a sonreír, a recordar París,
A ser mi angustia.
Déjame pasar… una tarde más.
Come, draw near me.
Come and hug me.
Return to smiling, to remembering Paris,
To being my anguish.
Let me spend… one more afternoon.
“Inevitable”
Album: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (Where Are The Thieves?), 1998
Style: Rock, confessions love song.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Si es cuestión de confesar,
No sé preparar café
Y no entiendo de fútbol.
If it’s a matter of confessing,
I don’t know how to prepare coffee
And I don’t understand soccer.
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