Spanish song lyrics translated to English: side-by-side lyrics, song meanings, and translation notes for people learning Spanish.
“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]
“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…
“Love is Missing” Lyrics
Album: Maná MTV Unplugged, 1999
Style: Rock song, social commentary about homeless children and their difficult lives.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Hoy ya la libró de comer,
Pobre niño de la calle,
Pero hoy no la libró de dormir
Bajo la banca de un parque.
He got away not eating today,
Poor kid of the street,
But he didn’t get away not sleeping today
Below a bench in a park.
“Cold Sheets” Lyrics
Album: Revolución de Amor (Revolution of Love), 2002
Style: Salsa, rock song about wanting a lover to come back, and about the bed being cold without them.
Countries: Mexico, Panama
Listen: YouTube
Cómo me duele este frío
Aquí en mi cama.
Cómo yo extraño tus besos
En madrugada.
How it hurts me, this cold
Here in my bed.
How I miss your kisses
At the break of dawn.
“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.
“Hate Me” Lyrics
Style: Pasillo, post-breakup song, asking for anything but indifference. Julio Jaramillo’s lyrics are always emotional poetry.
Country: Ecuador
Listen: Julio Jaramillo (original), La Santa Cecilia ft. Noel Schajris (live cover)
Ódiame por piedad, yo te lo pido.
Ódiame sin medida ni clemencia.
Odio quiero más que indiferencia,
Porque el rencor quiere menos que el olvido.
(x2)
Hate me for mercy’s sake, I ask (this of) you.
Hate me without measure or clemency.
I want hate more than indifference,
Because resentment asks less than oblivion.
(x2)
“Your Name”
Album: Esta Mañana y Otros Cuentos (This Morning and Other Stories), 2005
Style: Folk rock, romance song about the emotions attached to a lover’s name.
Countries: Argentina; Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Tu nombre es mi dulce castigo,
Mi sangre, mi droga y rubí,
Mi parte de vos, mi destino.
Tu nombre me sabe a jazmín.
Your name is my sweet punishment,
My blood, my drug and ruby,
My piece of you, my destiny.
Your name tastes of jasmine to me.
“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.
“The Town Son”
Composer: José Alfredo Jiménez
Style: Ranchera about poverty with dignity.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube
Es mi orgullo haber nacido
En el barrio más humilde,
Alejado del bullicio
(Y) de la falsa sociedad.
It is my pride to have been born
In the most humble neighborhood,
Away from the hustle and bustle
(And) from the false society.
“Lemon and Salt”
Album: Limón y Sal, 2006
Style: Alternative rock, love song to a moody lover, whimsical, fairy tale-like, not very subtle werewolf references. Could be a cute song to do for Halloween in Spanish class.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube. The music video is kind of amazing in a strange way.
Tengo que confesar que a veces
No me gusta tu forma de ser.
I have to confess that sometimes
I do not like your way of being.
“Beloved Dove” Lyrics
Style: Ranchera, love song. A popular old romantic song in Mexico.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube, Amazon
Por el día que llegaste a mi vida,
Paloma querida, me puse a brindar,
Y al sentirme un poquito tomado,
Pensando en tus labios, me dio por cantar.
For the day that you entered into my life,
Beloved dove, I began to toast,
And on feeling a little drunk,
Thinking of your lips, I was inspired to sing.
Songlations 
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