Spanish songs translated to English with side-by-side lyrics and notes for Spanish learners
“Before Seeing the Sun” Lyrics
Album: Coti, 2003
Style: Pop/rock song about waiting for a romantic interest to show interest back.
Country: Argentina
Listen: YouTube
Si te vas, se me va a hacer muy tarde
Y además, sólo intento cuidarte.
¿Ay cuándo, mi vida, cuándo
Va a ser el día que tu pared desaparezca?
If you leave, it is going to get very late for me
And what’s more, I only intend to take care of you.
Oh when, my love, when
Is it going to be the day that your wall disappears?
“Asteroid” Lyrics
Album: Zoé (Zoe), 2008
Style: Rock song using an asteroid metaphor for a relationship
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Déjate ver,
Estuvo chido poder besar (*)
Tu estereocuerpo lunar,
Tus ojos brillan más cada vez.
Let yourself be seen,
It was nice being able to kiss (*)
Your stereobody beauty spot,
Your eyes shine more very time.
“Your Guardian”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Slow rock to a loved one, a soothing promise song saying you’ll protect them and telling them to sleep soundly. It sounds like a parent to a child, but the relationship isn’t specified so it could also be sung to a lover.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Duermete pronto, mi amor
Que la noche ya llegó,
Y cierra tus ojos que yo
De tus sueños cuidaré.
Go to sleep soon, my love
That the night has come,
And close your eyes sure that I
Will guard your dreams.
“I Am Not Worth Anything Without Your Love”
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Soft rock, love song about feeling weak without them and strong with them.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Cuando el tiempo pasa
Y nos hacemos viejos,
Nos empieza a parecer
Que pesan más los daños
Que los mismos años al final
When time passes
And we grow old,
It starts to seem to us
That the harms weigh more
Than the very years in the end
“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.
“Bad People” Translation
Album: Un Día Normal (2003)
Style: Rock song. Bitter song to an ex who broke his heart and now wants him back. This song won the Latin Grammy Award for “Best Rock Song” in 2003.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Tú me pides que te deje ahora, ahora,
Ahora cuando más te necesito.
You ask me to leave you now, now,
Now when I need you most.
Tú me dices que este amor se fue al olvido, ahora,
Ahora cuando yo ya no te olvido.
You tell me that this love has fallen to oblivion, now,
Now when I cannot forget you anymore.
“The Black Shirt” Song Translated
Album: Mi Sangre (My Blood), 2004
Style: Rock, grieving/bitter. Juanes mourns a bad relationship and how it affected him. The black shirt symbolizes mourning. This song has lots of wordplay explained in the notes.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
(No por pobre y feo, pero por antojado…)
(Not for being poor or ugly, but for longing…)
Tengo la camisa negra.
Hoy mi amor está de luto.
Hoy tengo en el alma una pena [*pena, f. = pain (emotional); regret]
Y es por culpa de tu embrujo.
I wear the black shirt.
Today my love is mourning.
Today I have a regret weighing my soul
And it’s the fault of your witchcraft.
“We Can Cause Each Other Harm” Lyrics
Album: Fíjate Bien (Pay Good Attention), 2000
Style: Pop rock, about the potential of new relationships
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Ya es tarde para que te vea
Igual que lo hacía
En los días lejanos de mi cotidiano eterno.
It is late now for me to see you
The (same) way I used to
In those far away days of my everyday eternity.
Mira que ya todo es tan distinto,
Estamos explotando,
Uno tan cerca del otro y de pronto mi amor —
Look, see that everything is so different now,
We are exploding,
One so close to the other and all of a sudden, my love —
“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.
“Pay Attention”, alt. “Look Closely”
Album: Fíjate Bien, 2000
Style: Pop/rock, anti-war song raising awareness to the conflict in Colombia. It won Best Rock Song at the 2001 Latin Grammy Awards.
Country: Colombia
Listen: YouTube
Te han quitado lo que tienes,
Te han robado el pan del día,
Te han sacado de tus tierras
Y no parece que termina aquí.
They have taken away what you have,
They have stolen your daily bread,
They have taken you out of your lands
And it doesn’t look like it stops here.
“Enchantress”
Album: Sueños Liquidos (Liquid Dreams), 1997
Style: Psychedelic rock about a beautiful enchantress who seduces but is out of reach.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Hay una mujer hermosa,
La más primorosa,
De ojitos negros,
De piel gitana.
There is a gorgeous woman,
The most exquisite,
Of (darling) black eyes,
Of gypsy skin.
“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.
Songlations 
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