The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11524   Message #88630
Posted By: Neil Lowe
22-Jun-99 - 06:05 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: En el Agua (Kingston Trio)
Subject: RE: En el agua (translation)
En el agua: In (or On) the water.

I'll give it a try...my Spanish isn't what it used to be...and a literal translation (which is all I can do) might not make much sense but here goes: (The woman or the river or whatever : Maria Christina is a proper noun) Maria Christina wants to rule (or govern = gobernar)me, and I follow it (in this context it might mean "and I let it" or "and I allow (or permit) it", I follow the current (of the water, I assume). Maria Christina loves (or wants) me. (The next part doesn't make logical sense to me): a la gente means "to the people" or "the people" or "for the people" so:To (or For) the people Maria Christina wants to rule (or govern) me.

Damn, scratch all that....I think I have it now ...the way it's supposed to fit together. Here's my best shot (my definitive version. Also I am trying HTML line breaks for the first time so I apologize in advance if they don't work...maybe the punctuation will suffice):

Maria Christina wants to rule me,
And I let her.
I follow the current Maria Christina.
The people love me,
Maria Christina want to rule me.

Is "Maria Christina" a river? I hope I didn't confuse you too badly. I hope this helps.

Regards, Neil

Maybe the to the people part goes with the previous line. It might make a little more sense that way as in : Maria Christina loves (or wants) me for the people