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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
NightWing ADD/seek translation: Adios, Ciudad (6) RE: ADD/seek translation: Adios, Ciudad 08 Oct 08


I'm a decent speaker of Spanish, but it's not native and I don't speak it often enough. But here goes. (I'm going for meaning, rather than a literal translation, though often enough they are the same.)

Soy un hombre de muchos sueños
I am a man of many dreams
Buscando por tu beso
Seeking your kisses
Pero el frío mato esperanza
But the cold has killed my hope
Y la calle me hiso preso
And the street1 has imprisoned me
Adiós ciudad, adiós ciudad chismosa
Goodbye city, goodbye, you gossiping city
Adiós ciudad, me voy ha ir sin razón
Goodbye city, you are going to drive me insane
Y sabes ciudad, soy un hombre que en tus brazos
Dejare mi corazón, Adiós
And you know, city, I am a man who will leave my heart in your arms,
Goodbye.
 
Emborracho pero sin trago
You have made me a drunk2, but without liquor
Hasta no poder con el camino
Until I cannot take the road3
Y los ojos faltan promesas
Your eyes make no promises
La amalgura es mi testigo
And bitterness4 is my witness
 
Pasaron días por tres mil años
You have been here for three thousand years
Cara palo es realidad
Your pale face is Reality
Pero en la noche lagrimosa
But in the weeping night
No hay sonrisa, no hay piedad
There is no smile; there is no mercy
 
Despertando en tu pelo
Waking up in your hair5
Con tu perfume de inquietude
With the perfume of your restlessness
Me devolviste el resto de vida
You gave back the rest of my life
Pero no la juventud
But not my youth

1 I believe that we have a typo here. If the Spanish is really "hizo preso", then this is its meaning. "The street", as in "street smarts" and "the mean streets".
2 "Emborracho" indicates "made a drunk" in the same way that English "emboldened" means "made bold". And to make this clear, it's saying that my despair because of the city has turned me into a lush, not that I am intoxicated with my love of the city.
3 This time, "the road" indicates "leaving" or even "escape".
4 Again, I think we have a typo. If the word is "amargura", then it's "bitterness" and that makes sense in context.
5 I don't understand this expression. It may be a colloquialism with a specific meaning that I just don't know. It may instead be that our singer has started singing about his female lover in person, rather than symbolizing her as the city.

BB,
NightWing


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