Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“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.
“Smells of Sadness” Lyrics Translation
Album: Luna (Moon), 2003
Style: Slow rock, Latin rock. Melancholy song about missing a lover and not knowing where they are.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Sólo huele a tristeza,
Huele a soledad.
En mis ojos perdidos
Sólo hay humedad.
It smells only of sadness,
It smells of loneliness.
In my lost eyes
There is only moisture (lit. humidity).
“Today is Goodbye” Lyrics
Album: Shaman, 2002
Style: Blues rock, Chicano rock, sad song about losing people across the USA-Mexico border. It is from the perspective of a person left behind, singing about their loved one who left with the intent of crossing the border, then time passing and not knowing what happed to them, but continuing to wait.
Country: Mexico, Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Él se fue con el invierno.
Él se ha ido a trabajar.
No me ha escrito en mucho tiempo;
Él dijo que volverá.
He left with the winter.
He has gone to work.
Hasn’t written to me in a long time;
He said he would return.
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“Tear Out My Heart” Song Translation
Album: Amar Es Combatir (To Love is To Fight), 2006
Style: Rock song asking their sweetheart to tear out their heart if they leave. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album.
Country: Mexico
Yo sigo solo.
Aquí en la habitación, solo.
Ya anunciaste que te ibas a marchar de mi lado.
I continue alone.
Here in my room, alone.
You already declared you were leaving me.
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