Album: Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo (The Ones Behind Are With Me), 2008
Style: Alternative, slightly pop and slightly urban
Countries: Puerto Rico (Calle 13), Mexico (Café Tacvba)
Listen:
"No Hay Nadie Como Tú" won "Best Alternative Song" in the 2009 Latin Grammy Awards. It is a catchy love song and also a good resource for learning a lot of vocabulary since the setup of the song is to pair many similar and opposite things. Watch the music video at YouTube here.
[Expand embedded video]
Translation:
En el mundo hay gente bruta y astuta,
Hay vírgenes y prostitutas.
Ricos, pobres, clase media,
Cosas bonitas y un par de tragedias.
In this world there are people brute and astute,
There are virgins and prostitutes.
Rich people, poor people, and middle-class people,
Pretty things and a pair of tragedies*. [*in the sense of ugly and unfashionable]
Hay personas gordas, medianas y flacas,
Caballos, gallinas, ovejas y vacas.
Hay muchos animales con mucha gente,
Personas cuerdas y locos demente.
There are fat people, middle-sized people, and skinny people,
Horses, chickens, sheep, and cows.
There are many animals with many people,
Sensible people and demented lunatics.
En el mundo hay mentiras y falsedades,
Hechos, verdades y casualidades,
Hay mentalidades horizontales, verticales y diagonales.
In this world there are lies and falsehoods,
Facts, truths and casualties,
There are horizontal, vertical, and diagonal viewpoints [*lit. mentalities].
Derrotas y fracasos accidentales,
Medallas, trofeos y copas mundiales.
En el mundo hay vitaminas y proteínas,
Mariguana, éxtasis y cocaína.
Defeats and accidental screw-ups,
Medals, trophies, and world cups.
In this world there are vitamins and proteins,
Marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine.
Hay árboles, ramas, hojas y flores,
Hay muchas montañas de colores.
En el mundo hay decisiones divididas,
Entradas, salidas, debuts, despedidas.
There are trees, branches, leaves and flowers,
There are many multi-colored mountains.
In this world there are split decisions,
Entrances, exits, debuts, farewells.
Hay inocentes, hay homicidas,
Hay muchas bocas y poca comida.
Hay gobernantes y presidentes,
Hay agua fría y agua caliente.
There are innocents, there are homicides,
There are many mouths and little food.
There are governors and presidents,
There is cold water and hot water.
En el mundo hay micrófonos y altoparlantes,
Hay seis mil millones de habitantes.
Hay gente ordinaria y gente elegante,
Pero, pero, pero...
In the world there are microphones and loudspeakers,
There are six thousand million inhabitants [*alt. there are six billion inhabitants].
There are ordinary people and elegant people,
But, but, but...
Chorus:
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No hay nadie como tú.
No hay nadie como tú, mi amor,
No hay nadie como tú.
There is no one like you.
There is no one like you, my love,
There is no one like you.
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(x2)
En el mundo siempre se mueve la tierra.
Hay tanques de oxígeno, tanques de guerras.
El sol y la luna nos dan energía,
Se duerme de noche y se vive de día.
In this world the earth always moves.
There are oxygen tanks, war tanks.
The sun and the moon give us energy,
One sleeps at night and lives during the day.
Hay gente que rectifica lo que dice,
Hay mucha gente que se contradice.
Hay algarrobas y alga marinas,
Hay vegetarianos y carnicerías.
There are people who correct what they say,
There are many people who contradict themselves.
There are carob beans and marine algae [*both used in food]
There are vegetarians and meat markets.
Hay tragos amargos y golosinas,
Hay enfermedades y medicinas.
Hay bolsillos llenos, carteras vacías,
Hay más ladrones que policías.
There are bitter drinks and sweet candies,
There are illnesses and medicines.
There are full purse bags, empty wallets,
There are more thieves than police.
Hay religiones, hay ateísmo,
Hay capitalismo y comunismo.
Aunque nos parecemos no somos los mismos,
Porque, porque...
There is religion, there is atheism,
There is capitalism and communism.
Although we look alike, we are not the same, [*alt. Although we seem similar...]
Because, because...
[Chorus x2: "No hay nadie como tú..." (There is no one like you...)]
En el mundo existen muy buenas ideas;
Hay Don Quixotes y Dulcineas.
Hay sexo en el baño, sexo en la cama,
Sexo sin ropa, sexo en pijama.
In the world there exist very good ideas;
There are Don Quixotes and Dulcineas [*two characters of a great Spanish literary work, Don Quixote loves Dulcinea]
There is sex in the bathroom, sex on the bed,
Sex without clothes, sex in pajamas.
Hay cosas reales y melodramas.
Hay laberintos y crucigramas.
Existen llamadas que nadie contesta.
Hay muchas preguntas y pocas respuestas.
There are real things and melodramas.
There are labyrinths and crossword puzzles.
There exist calls that no one answers.
There are many questions and few responses.
Hay gente valiente, gente con miedo,
Gente que el mundo no le importa un bledo.
Gente parada, gente sentada,
Gente soñando, gente despertando.
There are brave people, scared people,
People who don’t give a damn about the world.
Standing people, sitting people,
People dreaming, people waking up.
Hay gente que nace, gente que muere.
Hay gente que odia y gente que quiere.
En este mundo hay mucha gente,
Pero, pero, pero...
There are people who are born, people who die.
There are people who hate and people who love.
In this world there are many people,
But, but, but...
[Chorus x7: "No hay nadie como tú..." (There is no one like you...)]
Translation Notes:
Hechos, verdades y casualidades
Facts, truths and casualties
hecho (m. noun) = an event or act; a fact
The word comes from the verb hacer (to do), giving un hecho the meaning of something done, or a done fact.
---
Derrotas y fracasos accidentales
Defeats and accidental screw-ups
Defeats and accidental failures [*alt., most general literal meaning]
The word fracaso has many meanings, all of them related to failure. It can mean self-ruin, downfall, flop, breakdown, and it can be a euphemism for miscarriages or abortions, and I have heard it used in reference to girls with teen pregnancies (in the sense that they “ruined” their lives).
I settled on “accidental screw-ups” because it best complimented “defeats” and this song is all about comparisons. Defeats are done to you by outside forces; failures, you can cause to yourself.
For more examples of how fracaso is used in Spanish, look at Linguee’s collection of real-life uses of the word picked up from websites with available English and Spanish versions.
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Entradas, salidas, debuts, despedidas.
Entrances, exits, debuts, farewells.
In TV and other media, a new person’s start is their debut (debut, borrowed from French début) and their final performance is their despedida (lit. farewell, send-off).
---
En el mundo hay micrófonos y altoparlantes
In this world there are microphones and loudspeakers
altoparlante (loudspeaker) from alto (high) and parlante (talker)
The less common Spanish verb parlar (to talk) is synonymous with hablar (to talk). In French, "to talk" is parler.
Another word for "loudspeaker" is altavoz from alta (high) and voz (voice).
---
Hay Don Quixotes y Dulcineas.
There are Don Quixotes and Dulcineas.
The novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was written in the early 17th century and is considered one of the greatest Spanish literary works. It concerns the story of a noble, Don Quixote, who after reading so many novels about chivalry decides to set off on a quest to revive chivalry. He loves Dulcinea, or rather the idea of Dulcinea. Wikipedia says that "in the Spanish of the time, Dulcinea means something akin to an overly elegant ‘sweetness’. In this way, Dulcinea is an entirely fictional person for whom Quixote relentlessly fights. To this day, a reference to someone as one's ‘Dulcinea’ implies hopeless devotion and love for her, and particularly unrequited love."
In Spanish, dulce means "sweet," both as a noun (un dulce) and as an adjective.
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Gente que el mundo no le importa un bledo.
People who don’t give a damn about the world.
People who the world doesn’t give a damn about. [*alt.]
These are two very different translations. The line is ambiguous and it could be reasonably translated as either, but I think it was meant to be the first one based on the content of the neighboring lines.
The reason for the ambiguity is that the verb importar(le) [to matter (to one); to care about] is conjugated in such a way that the subject can be either gente (people) or el mundo (the world). The word le (indicating the object of the verb) can also be applied to either.