"Disappearances"
Album: Buscando America (Looking for America), 1984
Style: Political commentary, sad song
Countries: Panama; Mexico
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...
Llevo tres días
Buscando a mi hermana.
Se llama Altagracia,
Igual que la abuela.
I have been three days
Looking for my sister.
Her name is Altagracia [*lit. High Grace],
Just like (her) grandmother.
Salió del trabajo pa' la escuela,
Llevaba unos Jeans y una camisa clara.
No ha sido el novio; el tipo está en su casa.
No saben de ella en la PSN ni en el hospital.
Ooo....
She left work to head off to school,
She was wearing jeans and a light shirt.
It wasn't the boyfriend; that guy's at his house.
They haven't heard of her at the PSN or at the hospital.
Oooo....
Que alguien me diga si han visto a mi hijo.
Es estudiante de pre-medicina.
Se llama Agustín y es un buen muchacho.
A veces es terco cuando opina.
Lo han detenido. No sé qué fuerza.
Someone tell me if they have seen my son.
He is a pre-med student.
His name is Agustin and he's a good kid.
Sometimes (he is) a bit stubborn with his opinions.
They've arrested him. I don't know what force (authority).
Pantalón claro, camisa a rayas.
Pasó anteayer.
Light pants, stripped shirt.
It happened the day before yesterday. [*alt. He passed here the day before yesterday.]
¿A dónde van los desaparecidos?
Busca en el agua y en los matorrales.
¿Y por qué es que se desaparecen?
Porque no todos somos iguales.
Where do the disappeared go?
Look in the water and in the bushes.
And why is it that they disappear?
Because we are not all the same.
¿Y cuándo vuelve el desaparecido?
Cada ves que lo trae el pensamiento.
¿Cómo se le habla al desaparecido?
Con la emoción apretando por dentro.
Oh....
And when does the disappeared come back?
Every time you have him (or her) in your thoughts.
How do you talk to the disappeared?
With a gripping emotion inside you.
Oh....
Clara, Clara, Clara Quiñones se llama mi madre.
Ella es, ella es un alma de Dios,
No se mete con nadie,
Y se la han llevado de testigo
Por un asunto que es nada más conmigo
Clara, Clara, Clara Quiñones is my mother's name.
She's a gentle soul, a soul of God.
Doesn't mess with anyone,
And they have taken her as a witness
For business that has only to do with me.
Y fui a entregarme hoy por la tarde,
Y ahora dicen que no saben quién se la llevó
Del cuartel.
And I went to turn myself in today in the afternoon,
And now they say they don't know who took her
From the barracks.
Anoche escuché varias explociones.
Patún pata patún pete,
Tiro de escopeta y de revolver,
Carros acelerados frenos gritos,
Eco de botas en la calle,
Toque de puertas por dioses platos rotos.
[Continue the translation and read notes at the new site at songlations.com]
Watch and Listen:
Renditions on YouTube: Rubén Blades (original songwriter and singer), Maná (Mexican rock band).
If you want to know more about the political history that inspired this song, these sites have information: