Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“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:
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Mira la vida abriéndose camino.
Mira la vida diciendo que sí.
Look at life opening a way for itself.
Look at life saying yes.
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(x2)
“Latin Woman” Lyrics Translation
Album: Amor a la Mexicana (Love to the Mexican Woman), 1997
Style: Salsa, pop, quick beat, energetic, joyful. This happy song comes from one of Thalía’s most popular albums. It’s good for dancing.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Chorus 1:
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Vengo, vengo, vengo de caña.
Vengo, vengo, vengo del son.
Tengo, tengo, tengo en el alma
Ritmo, ritmo, ritmo y sabor.
I come from, come from, come from sugar cane.
I come from, come from, come from son.
I have, have, have in my soul
Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm and flavor.
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“Nobody Like You” Lyrics
Album: Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida (What I told you when you pretended to sleep), 2003
Style: Pop, sweet, love song telling a long-term romantic partner about how much they are valued. They are irreplaceable and their shared memories are a treasure of the heart.
Country: Spain
Listen: YouTube
Nadie como tú
Para hacerme reír.
Nadie como tú
Sabe tanto de mí.
Nobody like you
To make me laugh.
Nobody like you
Knows so much about me.
“Rosalinda”
Album: Arrasando (Razing), 2000
Style: Upbeat pop song about being in love and in lust with a girl named Rosalinda.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Cuando se tiene una razón
Para amar intensamente,
Se descubre de repente
Que por ti late más fuerte el corazón.
When one has a reason
To love intensely,
One suddenly finds
That for you, the heart beats stronger. [*alt. harder]
“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.
“Against Winds and Tides”
Songwriter: Franco De Vita. Sung by: Chayanne
Style: Pop, smooth romantic. Slow lyrics good for beginner Spanish students.
Countries: Venezuela; Puerto Rico
(Note that there are different songs with this title sung by Intocable and Los Bukis.)
No me preguntes cómo sucedió
O si sera cierto, tal vez no.
Sólo sé que ahora estoy aquí
Y no hago otra cosa que pensar en ti,
Oh, pensar en ti.
Do not ask me how it happened
Or if it may be true, perhaps not.
All I know is that I am here now
And I do not do anything else but think of you,
Oh, think of you.
“Forbidden Love”
Album: Amor Prohibido, 1994
Style: Pop love song. This is a very Romeo and Juliette style of love song, about love between people of different social classes and the disapproval from others.
Country: USA (Texas)
Listen: YouTube
Con unas ansias locas quiero verte hoy.
Espero ese momento en que escuche tu voz.
With a crazy yearning I want to see you today.
I await that moment when I can hear your voice.
“Rosario Tijeras”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Pop/rock, wild west feel, biography of a (fictional) legend. The film Rosario Tijeras (2005) is the second highest grossing film in Colombia’s history. This song is the opening for one of the two novelas about Rosario Tijeras, a real tough lady.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
En la calle,
En la esquina,
En la plaza,
En la cuadra, Papá.
Está de vuelta la Rosario Tijeras
Pa’ que se escondan.
On the street,
On the corner,
On the plaza,
On the block, Daddy.
Rosario Tijeras has come back
So you (should) all flee.
“For Your Love”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Soft rock, sweet
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Para tu amor lo tengo todo,
Desde mi sangre hasta la esencia de mi ser,
Y para tu amor que es mi tesoro,
Tengo mi vida toda entera a tus pies.
For you love I have it all,
Down from my blood up to the very essence of my being,
And for your love that is my treasure,
I have my life all complete at your feet.
“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.
Songlations 
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