"Respira" by Ojos de Brujo, English translation of lyrics
"Breathe"
Album: Techarí, 2007
Style: Gypsy funk, flamenco with rap and hip hop influence
Country: Spain
Listen:
I really like the quick paced trains of thought in Ojos de Brujo’s songs. The partial phrases and changing topics can be hard to translate if they shift too quickly, but they are fun to hear. Listen to this song about keeping one's cool and staying focused in the face of obstacles at YouTube here. The name of their album, Techarí, means "free" in Caló, a Spanish Romani language.
[Expand embedded video]
Translation:
Respira... Positivate y ríete de tí to’a [toda] la vida.
Renace... ¿Quién dijo que era fácil la partida?
Tú eliges... ¡Juégala!
Breathe... Make yourself positive and laugh at yourself all your life.
Become reborn... Who said the game was easy?
You choose... Play it!
Descansa... Carretera y manta.
Tranquilita niña y no pierdas la calma,
Que tó’ [todo] llega, tó’ llega, tó’ llega...
Sólo tarda lo que tiene que tardar.
Respira. Coge aire. ¡Respira!
Rest... A road and a blanket. [*single words suggest the image of a traveler]
Stay calm, girl, and don’t lose your cool,
Because everything comes, everything comes...
Only what needs to be delayed is delayed.
Breathe. Take in air. Breathe!
El viento sopla, casi cada día,
Algún ratillo, casi como todos los días,
Pero nunca igual.
Resuelve el pulso!
The wind blows, almost every day,
Some amount of time, like almost every day,
But never the same.
Settle the arm-wrestling match!
Déjate llevar! Déjate llevar!
Para los tic-taques y la cuenta atrás,
¡Coge aire!
Let yourself be swept along! Let yourself be moved!
For the tic-tocs and the countdown,
Take in air!
-Coda-
----------------------------------------
Así no hay manera,
Suelta gas y frena,
Tira la moneda -- tú tienes madera.
There’s no way like this,
Let off the gas and hit the brakes,
Flip the coin -- you have what it takes.
Conserva tu eje -- no pierdas el este
Con el que arremete nuestro soniquete.
No es ningún discurso, resiste al impulso,
No pierdas el pulso, esto es un abuso.
Conserve your core -- don’t lose your direction
With those who attack our dronning,
It’s no discussion, resist the impulse,
Don’t lose the fight*, this is an abuse. [*pulso: battle of strength (usually an arm-wrestling match)]
Ven p'acá morena y abandona penas.
No pierdas la calma, falta mucha tela.
Respira. Coge aire. ¡Respira!
Come ‘ere, dear brunette, and abandon your sorrows.
Don’t lose your cool, there’s still a lot of story left.
Breathe. Take in air. Breathe!
----------------------------------------
La vida es breve y dos veces bella,
Tres veces dura y cuatro te revienta,
Cinco veces te adormece y otras te desvela.
Life is brief and twice beautiful,
Trice hard, and four times it exhausts you,
Five times it puts you to sleep and other times it keeps you awake.
Una te equivocas y otra aciertas.
Una entiendes y otra no entiendes una mierda,
Y otra dan las seis y media;
La rueda sigue... {¡ay, vaya dilema!}
One time you make a mistake, and another time you get it right.
One time you understand, and another time you don’t understand sh*t,
And now it hits six-thirty [6:30, *lit. six and a half];
The wheel continues... {oh, what a dilemma!}
Fum!
[Instrumental interlude]
Playas mojadas, bajan la guardia {en mi cabeza}
Y la espuma de tu cuerpo que embelesa y que dá ganas.
Así despacito reconozco libertad.
Wet beaches, let down the guard {in my head}
And the seafoam of your body that captivates and motivates.
Slowly, like that, I recognize freedom.
¿Yo qué más quiero?
Te escribo mis canciones, descansan mis visiones.
Le canto a la alegría, que se vayan desdichas y desamores.
{Por un instante... si dan las siete...}
¡Qué más da!
What more do I want?
I write you my songs, my visions calm down.
I sing to joy, let unhappiness and callousness go away.
{For an instant... now it’s seven...}
What does it matter?
[Repeat from coda: "Así no hay manera, suelta gas y frena..."]
Translation Notes:
Ojos de Brujo = Eyes of Wizard/Shaman/Witchdoctor/Sorcerer [*lit.]
The group’s name means something like "Wizard Eyes."
---
Algún ratillo, casi como todos los días.
Some amount of time, like almost every day.
un rato = a moment
un ratito = a small moment
un ratillo = a tiny moment
The suffix -illo is even more diminutive than the suffix -ito.
---
Tranquilita niña y no pierdas la calma.
Stay calm, girl, and don’t lose your cool.
Telling someone tranquilo/tranquila is telling them to keep calm. The -ito/-ita suffix is diminutive and adds affection. It also implies that the person the word is directed to is younger or smaller.
---
Conserva tu eje -- no pierdas el este.
Conserve your core -- don’t lose your direction [*lit. East].
This is a variation on the Spanish phrase no pierdas el norte (don't lose your North), meaning don't get lost or lose your direction.
---
...El que arremete nuestro soniquete.
...They who attack our dronning.
This line is self-depricating in a placating sort of way. It is embedded in a stanza telling the listener to hold their temper and not attack those who attack them. The word soniquete (sonsonete) refers to annoying noises, tapping, rhyming phrases, etc. It has a negative connotation.
---
Ven p'acá [para acá] morena y abandona penas.
Come ‘ere, dear brunette, and abandon your sorrows.
The noun morena (here feminine, but masculine moreno also exists) is a visual descriptor for darker-colored people, usually dark-haired and brown- or dark-skinned. The connotation is neutral or affectionate, so I used a similarly neutral word in English.
---
No pierdas la calma, falta mucha tela.
Don’t lose your cool, there’s still a lot of story left.
The feminine noun tela primarily means cloth or fabric, but can also mean web (una telaraña = a spiderweb), and here means story or objective.
In a way, I think tela is used a bit like "plot" in the Enlish idiom, "lose the plot."
Album: Techarí, 2007
Style: Gypsy funk, flamenco with rap and hip hop influence
Country: Spain
Listen:
I really like the quick paced trains of thought in Ojos de Brujo’s songs. The partial phrases and changing topics can be hard to translate if they shift too quickly, but they are fun to hear. Listen to this song about keeping one's cool and staying focused in the face of obstacles at YouTube here. The name of their album, Techarí, means "free" in Caló, a Spanish Romani language.
[Expand embedded video]
Translation:
Respira... Positivate y ríete de tí to’a [toda] la vida.
Renace... ¿Quién dijo que era fácil la partida?
Tú eliges... ¡Juégala!
Breathe... Make yourself positive and laugh at yourself all your life.
Become reborn... Who said the game was easy?
You choose... Play it!
Descansa... Carretera y manta.
Tranquilita niña y no pierdas la calma,
Que tó’ [todo] llega, tó’ llega, tó’ llega...
Sólo tarda lo que tiene que tardar.
Respira. Coge aire. ¡Respira!
Rest... A road and a blanket. [*single words suggest the image of a traveler]
Stay calm, girl, and don’t lose your cool,
Because everything comes, everything comes...
Only what needs to be delayed is delayed.
Breathe. Take in air. Breathe!
El viento sopla, casi cada día,
Algún ratillo, casi como todos los días,
Pero nunca igual.
Resuelve el pulso!
The wind blows, almost every day,
Some amount of time, like almost every day,
But never the same.
Settle the arm-wrestling match!
Déjate llevar! Déjate llevar!
Para los tic-taques y la cuenta atrás,
¡Coge aire!
Let yourself be swept along! Let yourself be moved!
For the tic-tocs and the countdown,
Take in air!
-Coda-
----------------------------------------
Así no hay manera,
Suelta gas y frena,
Tira la moneda -- tú tienes madera.
There’s no way like this,
Let off the gas and hit the brakes,
Flip the coin -- you have what it takes.
Conserva tu eje -- no pierdas el este
Con el que arremete nuestro soniquete.
No es ningún discurso, resiste al impulso,
No pierdas el pulso, esto es un abuso.
Conserve your core -- don’t lose your direction
With those who attack our dronning,
It’s no discussion, resist the impulse,
Don’t lose the fight*, this is an abuse. [*pulso: battle of strength (usually an arm-wrestling match)]
Ven p'acá morena y abandona penas.
No pierdas la calma, falta mucha tela.
Respira. Coge aire. ¡Respira!
Come ‘ere, dear brunette, and abandon your sorrows.
Don’t lose your cool, there’s still a lot of story left.
Breathe. Take in air. Breathe!
----------------------------------------
La vida es breve y dos veces bella,
Tres veces dura y cuatro te revienta,
Cinco veces te adormece y otras te desvela.
Life is brief and twice beautiful,
Trice hard, and four times it exhausts you,
Five times it puts you to sleep and other times it keeps you awake.
Una te equivocas y otra aciertas.
Una entiendes y otra no entiendes una mierda,
Y otra dan las seis y media;
La rueda sigue... {¡ay, vaya dilema!}
One time you make a mistake, and another time you get it right.
One time you understand, and another time you don’t understand sh*t,
And now it hits six-thirty [6:30, *lit. six and a half];
The wheel continues... {oh, what a dilemma!}
Fum!
[Instrumental interlude]
Playas mojadas, bajan la guardia {en mi cabeza}
Y la espuma de tu cuerpo que embelesa y que dá ganas.
Así despacito reconozco libertad.
Wet beaches, let down the guard {in my head}
And the seafoam of your body that captivates and motivates.
Slowly, like that, I recognize freedom.
¿Yo qué más quiero?
Te escribo mis canciones, descansan mis visiones.
Le canto a la alegría, que se vayan desdichas y desamores.
{Por un instante... si dan las siete...}
¡Qué más da!
What more do I want?
I write you my songs, my visions calm down.
I sing to joy, let unhappiness and callousness go away.
{For an instant... now it’s seven...}
What does it matter?
[Repeat from coda: "Así no hay manera, suelta gas y frena..."]
Translation Notes:
Ojos de Brujo = Eyes of Wizard/Shaman/Witchdoctor/Sorcerer [*lit.]
The group’s name means something like "Wizard Eyes."
---
Algún ratillo, casi como todos los días.
Some amount of time, like almost every day.
un rato = a moment
un ratito = a small moment
un ratillo = a tiny moment
The suffix -illo is even more diminutive than the suffix -ito.
---
Tranquilita niña y no pierdas la calma.
Stay calm, girl, and don’t lose your cool.
Telling someone tranquilo/tranquila is telling them to keep calm. The -ito/-ita suffix is diminutive and adds affection. It also implies that the person the word is directed to is younger or smaller.
---
Conserva tu eje -- no pierdas el este.
Conserve your core -- don’t lose your direction [*lit. East].
This is a variation on the Spanish phrase no pierdas el norte (don't lose your North), meaning don't get lost or lose your direction.
---
...El que arremete nuestro soniquete.
...They who attack our dronning.
This line is self-depricating in a placating sort of way. It is embedded in a stanza telling the listener to hold their temper and not attack those who attack them. The word soniquete (sonsonete) refers to annoying noises, tapping, rhyming phrases, etc. It has a negative connotation.
---
Ven p'acá [para acá] morena y abandona penas.
Come ‘ere, dear brunette, and abandon your sorrows.
The noun morena (here feminine, but masculine moreno also exists) is a visual descriptor for darker-colored people, usually dark-haired and brown- or dark-skinned. The connotation is neutral or affectionate, so I used a similarly neutral word in English.
---
No pierdas la calma, falta mucha tela.
Don’t lose your cool, there’s still a lot of story left.
The feminine noun tela primarily means cloth or fabric, but can also mean web (una telaraña = a spiderweb), and here means story or objective.
In a way, I think tela is used a bit like "plot" in the Enlish idiom, "lose the plot."