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.