Album: A Las Cinco En El Astoria (Five o' Clock at the Astoria), 2008
Style: Sweet/bittersweet, two people with mutual crushes finally confess
Country: Spain
Listen:
This song is dedicated to the victims of the 2004 Madrid train bombing. You can hear it at YouTube here.
[Expand embedded video]
Translation:
Si fuera más guapa y un poco más lista,
Si fuera especial, si fuera de revista,
Tendría el valor de cruzar el vagón
Y preguntarte quién eres.
If I were more beautiful and a bit smarter,
If I were special, if I were from magazines,
I would have the courage to cross the passenger car
And ask you who you are.
Te sientas en frente y ni te imaginas
Que llevo por ti mi falda más bonita.
Y al verte lanzar un bostezo al cristal,
Se inundan mis pupilas.
You sit in front and you do not even know [*lit. imagine]
That I am wearing my prettiest skirt for you. [*lit. That I have (on) my prettiest skirt because of you]
And on seeing you launch a yawn at the glass, [*lit. crystal; fancier word for "glass," refers to the window]
My pupils flood.
Chorus:
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De pronto me miras, te miro y suspiras,
Yo cierro los ojos, tú apartas la vista,
Apenas respiro, me hago pequeñita
Y me pongo a temblar. [*ponerse (verb) = to set down to; to start/begin to]
Suddenly you look at me, I see you and you sigh,
I close my eyes, you look away,
I barely breathe, I make myself small
And I begin to tremble.
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Y así pasan los días, de lunes a viernes,
Como las golondrinas del poema de Bécquer,
De estación a estación, enfrente tú y yo,
Va y viene el silencio.
And the days pass like this, from Monday to Friday,
Like the swallows in Bécquer’s poem,
From station to station, you and me in front,
The silence comes and goes.
[Chorus: De pronto me miras, te miro y suspiras...]
Y entonces ocurre, despiertan mis labios,
Pronuncian tu nombre tartamudeando.
Supongo que piensas qué chica más tonta
Y me quiero morir.
And then it happens, my lips wake up,
They pronounce your name, stammering,
I expect that you think what a stupid girl
And I want to die.
Pero el tiempo se para y te acercas diciendo,
Yo no te conozco y ya te echaba de menos.
Cada mañana rechazo el directo
Y elijo este tren. [*tren (noun, m.) = train]
But time stops and you come closer, saying,
I do not know you and I was already missing you.
Every morning I reject the direct (train)
And choose this one.
Y ya estamos llegando, mi vida ha cambiado,
Un día especial, este once de marzo.
Me tomas la mano, llegamos a un túnel
Que apaga la luz.
And we are arriving, my life has changed,
A special day, this eleventh of March.
You take my hand, we come to a tunnel
That turns off the light.
Te encuentro la cara, gracias a mis manos,
Me vuelvo valiente y te beso en los labios. [*volver (verb) = to turn; to return; to become]
Dices que me quieres y yo te regalo [*regalar (verb) = to gift]
El último soplo de mi corazón.
I find your face, thanks to my hands,
I turn brave and I kiss you on the lips.
You say that you love me and I give you
The last breath of my heart. [*lit. The last murmur of my heart]
Translation Notes:
qué chica más tonta
what a stupid girl
what girl most stupid [*word-for-word literal]
This is a commonly heard phase structure.
qué [noun] más [adjective]
what [noun] most [adjective]
---
Te encuentro la cara = I find your face
Compare with:
Encuentro tu cara = I find your face
Te... makes it sound more intimate.
Historical Notes:
La Oreja de Van Gogh released this song in 2008 to commemorate the victims of the March 11, 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid.
According to La Oreja de Van Gogh [from their official blog, found via the Wikipedia article on this song]:
Jueves es una historia de amor sobre la que nunca hubiéramos querido escribir. Es una canción especial, quizá la más especial que nunca hayamos escrito. Nace de la necesidad de destacar cada una de las pequeñas grandes historias que demasiadas veces las estadísticas terminan eclipsando. Por una vez y durante apenas cinco minutos de música, aquel 11 de marzo de 2004 vuelve a ser sencillamente "Jueves".
Translated:
Juevez is the kind of love story we would never have wanted to write about. It is a special song, perhaps the most special we ever wrote. It was brought about [*lit. born] by the need to highlight every single one of the small great stories that too often statistics end up eclipsing. For once and for just barely five minutes of music, that 11th of March in 2004 becomes again, just simply, "Thursday."