Quotes from Spanish Lyrics

[SpringBreeze]

A lot of songs today are poetry put to music. I love that about modern music. There's just so much beauty in the music world now. For this reason, I love translating bachata and boleros songs. And every so often, I come across a line or two that floors me. Does that ever happen to you? What was the name of the song and the line(s)?

Here are some lines that I love...

"Que cuando te tengo enfrente el sol sale asi de repente

Y cuando me miras ya sabes que yo doy mi vida"

--from Por Tu Amor by Charlie Zaa

[petesede]

The saddest and most moving music I know in spanish is about a war hero who has lost part of his leg and can no longer walk to find his true love.

it goes something like

la cucarache, la cucarache,  no puedes caminar, porque no tienes un parte de tu pierno...

There is another one about a cow name lola who has a head and a tail...

Just kidding.  Actually, that is my favorite way to learn spanish.  I hear a great song and I sit down and tranlate it.

[MyDigitalpoint]

This Spanish song by Manuel Mijares was very meaningful to me when I fell in love with a man that my parents disapproved due to his "low-profile" occupation:

Solo Dios sabe

cuánto te he buscado

y no te hallé

busco en tu mirada

por si hay una minima señal

no pienso rendirme

ya son muchos años tras de ti

este amigo te ama

eres el sosiego

que la vida me negó

Tengo amor que llora triste

por que no te puedo amar

le has quitado media vida

es amor sin completar

como flecha sin un blanco

como invierno sin llover

como barco en un desierto

como fruta sin comer

[SmartPea85]

As everyone knows, Shakira sometimes sings the same song in both English and Spanish. Personally, I prefer her songs and her voice when she sings in Spanish. Sometimes it seems the English translation is a little forced.

In the first lines of her song "Lo hecho está hecho" she sings:

"En la suite 16

Lo que empieza no termina

Del mini bar al edén

Y en muy mala compana"

I translate this to:

"In suite 16

that which has started isn't finished

in the mini bar of [The Garden of] Eden

and in very bad company."

Yet in the English version of the same song, this first set of lyrics goes:

"First Floor, Room 16

Smells like danger, even better

Set your goals, bless our souls

I'm in trouble but it feels like heaven."

Very different, right?

I love the way the Spanish words make the setting of the song feel dangerous, menacing and dark. I think it sets the stage for a very interesting turn of events/feelings that are expressed in the song. Yet the English version doesn't express any of that to me. Even the translated title "Did It Again" seems to intone something might lighter and fluffier than "Lo Hecho está hecho" (What's done is done).

[Linguetronix]

I really like songs by the band "La Oreja de Van Gogh" What a great name, right? For those who don't know, van Gogh was a dutch painter who cut off his ear in the later years of his life.

Some of their songs are brilliant, like "La nina que llora en tus fiestas". I also like Julieta Venegas. One of her best songs lyrically is "Mirame bien". Here's a line I chose:

"Mirame bien, te necesito igual, en algo tan pequeno como ver el dia pasar"

I would love it if a native speaker could translate it. I think it means, "I need you as much as you need me, even for something as small as watching the day pass"

[Kaynil]

More or less that line you say I'd translate it like this:

"Take a good look at me, I need you the same, (even) for something so small as to see the day pass (us) by"

I love translating songs. Lately I have been so much into "Cuarteto de Nos "and I have been trying to translate in English some of the songs because they have great lyrics. I'll leave one. I think it is  agood read.

When I Grow Up

I do not want to complain from ear to ear,

to take notice if whoever was ahead of me gets farther away,

deny the reflection that I leave in my mirror nor house the rancour between my eyebrows

I do not want to keep so many secrets,

neither to be confronted in a scene so grotesque

as did the Montagues and the Capulets.

I do not want at your age to become obsolete.

Neither lose vigour nor to say without rigour

that all the past time has always been better

neither arrive to my home dazed and upset

I do not want to be tired of carrying myself

Don't want to make the same mistakes than you,

neither to believe that everyone is a crook.

I don't want to handle the same values than you,

nor have every day resembling the previous ones.

I don't want to be unable to control my ire

neither to hold that sorrow in the eyes

wet and red, worn and loose.

I do not want myself to be my remains

Neither vehemently cast blame on the others

of what is my concern and responsibility,

neither to feel like trying to do in some stupid deed

what I could not when I was twenty three.

I do not want to be unable to feel pleasure with something,

Neither to evoke yesterday whenever pain touches me

nor to look old photos and start crying,

or to hear someone's name and start shivering.

I do not want to go on with that life battered

feeling suspicions of fraud and with the illusions shattered,

neither to go out throwing mouth-fouls as if I was Apollo,

nor to be bothered about spending a special date by myself.

And even though this may lead to misinterpretation

I do not want people to believe it is only to criticise

and I hope that this be only a statement

because even I don't know if I want you to want to be like me

And though this truth may hurt, I have to say it, without pleasing

but if I offend, I apologise: when I grow up, I don't want to be like you.

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/cuando-sea-grande-when-i-grow.html#ixzz2xZEYViy9

Adapted the lines I felt were a bit off or too direct, hoping it'd make better sense.

[Trellum]

There is a song that reminds me of my current situation, its sung by a mexican singer named ''Julieta Venegas''.  My favorite bit is this one:

''Me voy, que lastima, pero adios!

Me despido de ti y me voy!''

Yup, I might actually do what the song says very soon. 

Another singer I really like is named ''Ely Guerra''.  She has many beautiful songs.  One of my favs is ''Suavemente''.  I'm not a big fan of music in Spanish, but for some reason I really digged that song:

''¿Porque tendría que llorar por ti?

Total, si el pasado vuelve

Lo dejare ir suavemente

Que algunas veces hiere.

¿Porque tendría que sufrir por ti?

Total, yo de la nada quise

Darte mi amor suavemente

Un poco de mi tienes.

Para bien, para mal

Para la eternidad

Para irte de mí ''