"A Dios Le Pido" by Juanes, English translation of lyrics"I Ask God"Album: Un Día Normal (A Normal Day), 2003Style: Rock, hopeful for the future, love songCountry: Colombia

Que mis ojos se despiertenCon la luz de tu mirada, yo...A Dios le pido. 

That my eyes wake upWith the light of your gaze, I...Ask God.

Que mi madre no se muera yQue mi padre me recuerde,A Dios le pido. 

That my mother not die andThat my father remember me,I ask God.

Que te quedes a mi lado yQue más nunca te me vayas, mi vida...A Dios le pido. 

That you stay by my side andThat you never leave me, my life...I ask God.

Que mi alma no descanseCuando de amarte se trate, mi cielo,...A Dios le pido. 

That my soul not restWhen it comes to loving you, my heaven...I ask God.

Por los días que me quedan yLas noches que aún no llegan yo...A Dios le pido. 

For the days that I have left andThe nights that don't yet come I...Ask God.

Por los hijos de mis hijosY los hijos de tus hijos,A Dios le pido. 

For the children of my childrenAnd the children of your children,I ask God.

------------------------------------------Que mi pueblo no derrame tanta sangreY se levante mi gente,A Dios le pido. 

That my village not shed so much blood

And that my people rise,I ask God.

Que mi alma no descanseCuando de amarte se trate mi cielo,A Dios le pido.

That my soul never restWhen loving you is what my heaven is about,I ask God.------------------------------------------

Un segundo más de vida para darteY mi corazón entero entregarte.Un segundo más de vida para darteY a tu lado para siempre yo quedarme.

One more second of my life to give youAnd my entire heart to entrust to you.One more second of my life to give youAnd by your side forever stay.

Un segundo más de vida, yo...A Dios le pido.

A second more of life, I...Ask God.

Y que si me muero sea de amor,Y si me enamoro sea de vos,Y que de tu voz sea este corazón.Todos los días a Dios le pido. (x2)

And that if I die, it be for love,And if I fall in love, it (my love) be for you,And that of your voice this heart belong.Every day, I ask God.(x2)

[Repeat from top]

Translation Notes:

Mi vida (my life) and mi cielo (my heaven) are used in Spanish the way one would use "sweatheart," "love," and "honey" in English. Other terms of endearment used in Spanish are corazón (heart), mi amor (my love), and mi luz (my light).

"Y si me enamoro sea de vos." Note that vos (you) sounds like voz, which means "voice." It adds another level of meaning to this line, implying that he hopes for love that is not shallow.

"A Dios le pido." The verb pedirle means to request something of someone. It breaks down to the simpler form pedir, which means to request (to ask).

Watch and Listen:

At YouTube here.This song was translated sometime in 2004-2007. It was posted at Geocities, but now Geocities closed down, so I an re-posting it here.Tags: juanes

Posted on Mar. 9th, 2010 at 08:27 pm | Link | Leave a comment | 12 comments | Share

Commentssajuuk

My (song) life is now complete!Thank you so much for doing all these translations, it's so hard to find reliable Spanish song translations elsewhere. I'm an American student studying Spanish in Barcelona, and I actually made this Livejournal account specifically to thank you for this, I'm getting more and more addicted to Juanes and Mana songs, but for a while I was wondering why you hadn't translated probably my favorite Juanes song, thanks a ton for this!Posted on Mar. 10th, 2010 01:44 pm (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguas

Re: My (song) life is now complete!Ah, you're welcome! I have more old Geocities songs that I am slowing putting back up here (mostly Mana and Shakira songs). I have to fix accents and formatting.Posted on Mar. 11th, 2010 05:06 am (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

fanaticsimmerthis is beautiful. thanks so muchPosted on May. 3rd, 2010 12:41 am (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguasYou're welcome. Thank you for commenting (I love comments).Posted on May. 11th, 2010 11:37 pm (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)This is amazing! I love it. But what exactly is some of the Symbolism in this song? Thanks.Posted on May. 2nd, 2013 07:07 pm (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

cairaguasJuanes tends to make references to the on-going violence and conflict in Colombia in his songs. 

See Wikipedia for a summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_conflict_(1964%E2%80%93present)

This song does not have as many references, but I think the few lines that you may be wondering about ("That my mother not die andthat my father remember me" and "That my village not shed so much blood") do make oblique references to the conflict. I added the link in the main text to help future readers.

Thanks for the comments.

Posted on May. 24th, 2013 11:50 pm (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)Thank you, I looked at other translations and, though my spanish is poor, recognized they were severely deficient. This one agrees with how I understand it. And special thanks for the footnotes.Posted on May. 22nd, 2013 04:06 am (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguasYou're welcome and thanks for the praise. I like writing the footnotes and I'm glad you liked them, too.Posted on May. 24th, 2013 11:27 pm (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)Wow! I can't thank you enough!!! I finally found the theme song of my life!!!nThank you so much!Posted on Nov. 27th, 2013 01:39 am (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguasYou're welcome! I am glad that I could help you find such a song! :-)Posted on Nov. 28th, 2013 06:35 am (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

"Que mi alma no descanseCuando de amarte se trate mi cielo,"

I believe "mi cielo" refers to the person he's singing to, just like "mi vida".

So the translation would be something like...

"That my soul never restWhen it comes to loving you, my heaven (my love),I ask God."

Thanks for the nice translation for such a wonderful song!

--DanielPosted on May. 1st, 2014 12:50 pm (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguasOops. Thanks! You're right. I checked the song when I re-posted it from the old website, but I missed that line.

Fixed.Posted on May. 24th, 2014 03:21