Album: Sale el Sol (The Sun Comes Out), 2012
Style: Pop
Country: Colombia
Listen:
Shakira sings about her infatuation with her lover. Bonus for you language fans: this song is an example of code-switching between English and Spanish. Listen to it at YouTube here.
[Expand embedded video]
Translation:
Debe ser el perfume que usas
O el agua con la que te bañas,
Pero cada cosita que haces
A mí me parece una hazaña.
It must be the fragrance you use
Or the water you bathe with,
But every little thing you do
To me seems amazing. [*lit. To me seems a (great) feat/deed/accomplishment.]
Me besaste esa noche
Cual si fuera el último día de tu boca.
Cada que yo me acuerdo
Yo siento en mi pecho el peso de una roca.
You kissed me that night
As if it were the last day for your mouth.
Every time I remember it,
I feel the weight of a rock on my chest.
Son tus ojos marrones
Con esa veta verdosa.
Es tu cara de niño
Y esa risa nerviosa.
It is your brown eyes
With that greenish line.
It is your boyish face
And that nervous laugh.
I'm addicted to you
Porque es un vicio tu piel.
Baby, I'm addicted to you.
Quiero que te dejes querer.
(x2)
I’m addicted to you
Because your skin is my vice.
Baby, I’m addicted to you.
I want you to let yourself be loved.
(x2)
Por el puro placer de flotar,
Ahora sí me llevó la corriente.
Ya no puedo dormir ni comer
Como lo hace la gente decente.
For the pure pleasure of floating,
Now the current has (finally) taken me.
I can no longer sleep nor eat
Like decent people do.
Tu recuerdo ha quedado
Así como un broche prendido en mi almohada
Y tú en cambio que tienes memoria de pez
No te acuerdas de nada.
Your memory has stayed
Like a brooch pinned to my pillow
And you on the other hand who have the memory of a fish
Do not remember anything.
Son tus manos de hombre,
El olor de tu espalda,
Lo que no tiene nombre,
Lo logró tu mirada.
It is your manly hands,
The smell of your back,
That which has no name,
Your eyes accomplish.
I'm addicted to you
Porque es un vicio tu piel.
Baby, I'm addicted to you.
Quiero que te dejes querer.
(x2)
I’m addicted to you
Because your skin is my vice.
Baby, I’m addicted to you.
I want you to let yourself be loved.
(x2)
Translation Notes:
Me besaste esa noche / cual si fuera el último día de tu boca.
You kissed me that night / as if it were the last day for your mouth.
Cual si fuera and como si fuera are interchangeable, with the former sounding more poetic and the latter being more common.
---
Son tus ojos marrones / con esa veta verdosa.
It is your brown eyes / with that greenish line.
I had never heard veta verdosa before, but luckily the WordReference forums helped me out. Jonno explains the phrase thus:
Una veta es una línea o franja que se distingue del resto de material, por el color o por otras características. En una madera la veta son las líneas que forman los anillos de crecimiento, generalmente más oscuras que el resto del tronco. En una mina la veta es el filón de mineral entre la piedra.
En este caso yo entiendo que se trata de una línea verdosa en los ojos marrones.
Translation (mine):
A veta is a line or stripe/band that is distinguished from the rest of the material by its color or other characteristics. In wood, the veta is the lines that form growth rings, generally darker than the rest of the trunk. In a mine, the veta is the mineral vein amongst the rocks.
In this case, I understand it to refer to a greenish line in the brown eyes.
---
Porque es un vicio tu piel.
Because your skin is my vice.
In Spanish, we call things un vicio (a vice) when they are addicting. The word has negative connotations, but it is not meant to be very negative in this song. The singer has an addiction, but she is not unhappy about it.
---
Ahora sí me llevó la corriente.
Now the current has (finally) taken me.
Ahora me llevó la corriente.
Now the current has taken me.
{Ahora} {sí} {me llevó} {la corriente}
{Now} {yes} {it has taken me} {the current}
The sí (yes) in ahora sí (now yes, finally yes) is for emphasis.
---
Ya no puedo dormir ni comer.
I can no longer sleep nor eat.
o = or
ni = nor
Like “nor” in English, ni requires a negative phrase before it. In this case, “I can no longer sleep.”