The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17477   Message #4099692
Posted By: Joe Offer
28-Mar-21 - 02:47 PM
Thread Name: ADD: Gracias a la Vida (Violeta Parra)
Subject: ADD: Gracias a la Vida (Violeta Parra)-translated
Here is a singable translation, emailed to me by Elizabeth Block

GRACIAS A LA VIDA
(Nancy White / Violeta Parra)

Gracias a la vida
Life has given me so much
The large and the small things
Two eyes to see all things
So I can clearly distinguish
The blackness from the whiteness
And in the sky the brightness
Of the stars up above me
And in the crowded streets
I can pick out the one who loves me

Gracias a la vida
Life has given me so much
Gave me hearing and memory
To record Nature's melody
I hear the crickets and canaries
The giant hammers pounding
Thunder resounding
And the cry of a starling
And the sweet and tender voice
Of my own dear darling

Gracias a la vida
Life has given me so much
Gave me sounds I can't forget
And all the letters of the alphabet
To make the words and the phrases
That tell my heart's desire
Like mother, friend, and fire
And light, that shows clearly
The path of the soul
Of the one I love so dearly

Gracias a la vida
Life has given me so much
Tired feet for traveling
And roads for unraveling
I wandered through the cities
The prairies and the mountains
Saw the streams and the fountains
But my happiest hours
Were on the street where you live
Your house and your garden flowers

Gracias a la vida
Life has given me so much
Gave me a human heart
That tears itself apart
When I look at the things we do
In our world, in our neighbourhood
The evil and the good
The foolish and the wise
When I look into the depths
Of my own true love's eyes

Gracias a la vida
Life has given me so much
Gave me all the laughter
And all the weeping that comes after
So I can clearly distinguish
The joy from the sorrow
Two things I borrow
To make melody
I hold the guitar, you give the song to me

Gracias a la vida
Que me ha dado tanto......

By Nancy White, except for verse 5 which is by Elizabeth Block
The only singing translation in English that I know of.