Lyr Req: Ojos Negros

10 Jul 03 - 07:16 PM (#980908)
Subject: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

This song is in Spanish, which I cannot follow, without some written lyrics. It is on the Dubliners double CD, "The Masters" (Disc 2, Track 23).


A Google search for "Ojos Negros" brings up about 94,200 hits. Had I but time enough ...

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10 Jul 03 - 09:06 PM (#980964)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: GUEST,Q

HuwG, our resident garfysshe brought up lyrics of an Elvis "Ojos Negros," which may not be the one sung by "The Dubliners."

There are many songs with this title or with Ojos negros in the title. Can you guess at a line or two?

Here are a six (only the one by Ronstadt and the tango are immediately familiar to me), in addition to the crying black eyes, posted by gargoyle.

Yo vendo unos ojos negros,
Quien me los quiere comprar?
...

Esos ojos negros, esos ojos negros
no los quiero ver llorar
...

Ojos negros en el cielo de una noche fria
labios rojos que me hablaban
...
Ojos negros y ... soñadores
de mis amores,
dueños ellos son.
... (well-known tango)

Una blanca palomita, una blanca palomita
de ojos negros, negros, negros
... A hit for Linda Ronstadt

Cuando la ves pasar
siempre vestida para matar
no puedes defendere sólo suspirar
...

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11 Jul 03 - 05:03 AM (#981110)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

GUEST, gargoyle, thanks for the tip; I stand suitably chastened. Post in hast, repent at leisure. However, as GUEST, Q has spotted, there is indeed more than one song with that title out there, and the one that Q has posted is indeed the Dubliners' version.

Or at least, on the CD, there are only two or three verses sung (and one verse sounds like a repeat of the second), rather than the Elvis marathon epic.

Chords by the way, are simple A and E, key is A.

I'll spend the next couple of spare hours working at it (I'm heaving staging and amplifiers around for the next couple of days though).

Thanks, both.

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11 Jul 03 - 05:06 AM (#981111)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

Sorry, should have said that the first of the possible six that Q posted is the version I am after.

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11 Jul 03 - 09:53 AM (#981225)
Subject: Lyr Add: Ojos Negros
From: Sorcha

I believe this would be it, then.


OJOS NEGROS

Yo vendo unos ojos negros
¿ quien me los quiere comprar ?
Los vendo por hechiceros
porque me han pagado mal.
(BIS)

Más te quisiera, más te amo yo,
y todas las noches las paso
suspirando por tu amor.
( BIS )
( ESTRIBILLO )

Ojos negros traicioneros
¿ por que me mirais así ?
tan alegres para otros
y tan tristes para mí.
(BIS)

( ESTRIBILLO )

Cada vez que tengo pena
me a la orilla del mar
a preguntarle a las olas
si han visto a mi amor pasar.
(BIS)

( ESTRIBILLO )
http://tuna.upv.es/cancione/ojosnegr.htm

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11 Jul 03 - 10:28 AM (#981248)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

Brilliant !

Just compared it to the CD, and making allowances for my tin ear, and ?? Ronnie Drew's ?? strangled pronunciation, I am sure that Sorcha has posted the version I was after.



Thanks, all.

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11 Jul 03 - 12:06 PM (#981311)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: GUEST,Pepsi

I love Ronnie Drew's version. I have heard Spanish people scream when they hear it, but I do think his pronunciation is good.

Did Nat King Cole not sing this too ?

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11 Jul 03 - 03:39 PM (#981440)
Subject: Lyr Add: YO VENDO UNOS OJOS NEGROS
From: GUEST,Q

The version on the Spanish Tuna website has shortened the Chilean folksong by two verses, and changed the order. Here is the "complete" song with the correct title.

YO VENDO UNOS OJOS NEGROS

Yo vendo unos ojos negros,
quién me los quiere comprar?
Lo vendo por hechiceros,
porque me han pagado mal.

(Verse often used as estribillo= chorus between verses)
Más te quisiera,
más te amo yo,
y todas las noches lo paso
suspirando por tu amor!

Cada vez que tengo pena
me voy a la orilla 'el mar
a preguntarle a las olas
si han visto a mi amor pasar.

Las flores de mi jardin
con el sol se descoloran,
y los ojos de mi negra
lloran por el bien adoran.

Ojos negros traicioneros,
por qué me miráis así?
Tan alegres para otros,
y tan tristes para mi!

Qué sacas con no quererme,
y yo con no amarte a ti,
si estoy muriendo por verte,
y tú no vives sin mí?

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/1791/chile/vendojos.html

Yo vendo unos ojos negros (Lacks last verse)

I have put "complete" in quotation marks because a Colombian friend says he thinks that there could be more verses, and that singers sometimes added a verse of their own. Seemingly the song is well-known throughout Latin America. I looked for more verses and found this site which adds one at the end (a good site worth bookmarking for tango, etc.):

Y las olas me responden
Que si lo han visto pasar
Con un ramito de flores
Y echando flores al mar.
(http://argentina.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/tangos/msg04536.html)

A Chilean site lacks the last verse of the version I posted.
(http://www.halconuno.cl/milpais/ojos_negros.html)

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12 Jul 03 - 03:02 PM (#981927)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: GUEST,Q

Has anyone made a singable English translation of "Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros?"
Note that request is for singable- not literal.

There are dozens in Spanish, everyone from Nat King Cole to Placido Domingo, and instrumentals by Paco de Lucia on guitar and Yo Yo Ma on cello among others.

A good guitar audio may be found at www.royjelinek.com/repertorio. A little too up-beat for the lyrics, but entertaining playing nevertheless.
Yo vendo unos ojos negros

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13 Jul 03 - 10:01 AM (#982331)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

I say again, you guys are fantastic !

I will have words with a couple of the mandolin players I know, and see whether they would care to do this song with me, as in the Dubliners' arrangement, with guitar and mandolin. I suspect that they would prefer we stick to three verses, as the mandolin is doing all the work. I'm mot sure how it would sound with a violin; perhaps a bit heavier.

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13 Jul 03 - 11:56 AM (#982369)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Nigel Parsons

I don't even know if my translation is accurate, but might I suggest:

My pretty little black eyed Susie

or:

Two lovely Black eyes
Oh, what a surprise
Only for telling a man he was wrong,
Two lovely Black Eyes

Nigel

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13 Jul 03 - 01:02 PM (#982395)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: GUEST,theballadeer

I don't speak Spanish, so someone may come after me to say how wrong I am. But I don't believe Ronnie Drew's version should be classified as strangled, as he spent a lot of time in Spain in his early twenties. That's where he learned play guitar and he also taught English...now that's funny. But knowing Ronnie he would've gone to great lengths to make sure he was doing the song justice.

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13 Jul 03 - 11:08 PM (#982668)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

I didn't mean to imply that the late and great Ronnie Drew wasn't in any way doing justice to the song. However, the lovely gravelly voice he used would not ever sound like anything than pure Liffey.

No doubt, there is some hispanophone (is that a fancy word for a native speaker of Spanish ?) writing somewher that he has difficulty in following Ronnie's english lyrics ...

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13 Jul 03 - 11:22 PM (#982674)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: GUEST,theballadeer

Ronnie is indeed great, but not late! He's very much alive...unless you know something I don't.

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14 Jul 03 - 12:08 AM (#982699)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: HuwG

Oooooops ! Shows what happens when you come home after long weekend spent heaving heavy gear around, and post before thinking.

Yes, Ronnie is alive. I remember that he was absent from the group for a long while after a road accident, and probably let my brain into neutral at that point.

Apologies to all.

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14 Jul 03 - 02:57 AM (#982745)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Wilfried Schaum

And there is always the possibility of a Spanish translation of the famous Russian Ochie chornye

Wilfried

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25 Jun 09 - 02:55 AM (#2664138)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: GUEST,Swim-Two-Birds

Ronnie Drew's Dubliner's lyrics in Spanish with my free translation are at www.swimtwobirds.org/ojosnegros.htm

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25 Sep 09 - 04:48 AM (#2730956)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Mr Happy

Using Babelfish translator, it tells me from Spanish to English, YO VENDO UNOS OJOS NEGROS, means, "I sell black eyes!"

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25 Sep 09 - 05:00 AM (#2730961)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Mr Happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqWN-xXSgbE

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25 Sep 09 - 05:41 AM (#2730974)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Mr Happy

Here's Babelfish's version of the whole thing:

Spanish to English:

I SELL BLACK EYES.

I sell black eyes.
Who wants them to me to buy?
The selvage by wizards.
Because they have paid to me badly.

I would want to you more.
More I love you I.
And all the nights it step.
Sighing by your love!

Whenever I have pain.
I go away to the border ' the sea.
To ask to him the waves.
If they have seen love happen.

The flowers of my garden.
With the sun they are discoloured.
And the eyes of my black.
They cry by the good adore.

Treacherous black eyes.
Why you watch to me thus?
So glad for others.
And so sad for my!

What extractions with not wanting to me.
And I with not amarte.
If I am dying by verte.
And you do not live without me?

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25 Sep 09 - 07:02 AM (#2731001)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Monique

There's a word missing in the 3rd verse, last line, it's "lloran por el bien que adoran".

Here it is

I sell black eyes.
Who wants to buy them from me?
I sell them for being wizards
Because they have paid (rewarded) me badly.

I'd love you more
I love you more
And I spend all the nights (lit. "the nights, I pass it")
Yearning for your love!

Whenever I have pain
I go to the seaside
To ask the waves
If they have seen my love pass by.

The flowers of my garden
Fade in the sun
And the eyes of my black (one, lady...)
Cry for the good* they adore.

Treacherous black eyes,
Why do you watch me thus?
So glad for others
And so sad for me!

What do you gain for not loving me
And I for not loving you
If (when) I am dying to see you
And you do/can not live without me?

* "good" in this case means "precious one" "love".

In Spanish, the verb "querer" which literally means "to want" usually means "to love" in this case; "amar" only means "to love" but is mainly used in literature/poetry/songs.

The translation to the additional verse Q mentioned is

And the waves answer me
That they saw her* indeed
With a little bunch of flowers
And throwing flowers to the sea.

* "lo" is literally in masculine because the question was about "my love", a masculine word in Sp.

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25 Sep 09 - 07:04 AM (#2731002)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ojos Negros
From: Mr Happy

Monique,

Muchos gracias!

Your interpretation makes far more sense!

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