"La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida" meaning in English

David

David

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I suppose the translation is something like "live gives you suprises, and surprises give you life". So maybe this is sort putting a positive spin on how the surprises of life make like more meaningful? Also, I have a little trouble judging the feeling when he says "Ay Dios!". Is that kind of like OMG?

Here a video that shows the lyrics


And of course this is Ruben Blades
 
Great Song, by the way also with some clave issues!
It’s the salsa version of Mack the knife, and Blades’ vocals are just amazing, he’s the best Salsa singer that I know in this aspect.
However, your translation is not correct. he turns the phrase, but it’s twice the same meaning: Live gives you surprises. Sing by the drunk guy who finds the two corpses and resuming the whole situation and the sad state of marginal criminal lost Latin souls in New York (assuming he is speaking about Latin persons, but somehow I always felt it that way)
 
David said:
I suppose the translation is something like "live gives you suprises, and surprises give you life". So maybe this is sort putting a positive spin on how the surprises of life make like more meaningful? Also, I have a little trouble judging the feeling when he says "Ay Dios!". Is that kind of like OMG?

Here a video that shows the lyrics


And of course this is Ruben Blades
Click to expand...

The line means the same thing, only inverted. "Life is full of surprises. Surprises is what life's full of, oh God!" (As in "hoo boy...smh").

There's a negative connotation to the context of "Ay dio." Like saying "Give me a f####### break." Or "Oh, c'mon!"
 
Latinjazz said:
Do you know other salsa singer that have fantastic lyrics?
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Can't not suggest Hansel y Raúl with María Teresa y Danilo

But what are you looking for? Serious non-cliché themes? Elaborate stories? Poetic language?

Along with Rubén Blades, is Willie Colón (with and without Blades/Lavoe) too obvious a suggestion? E.g. El gran varón

Alexander Abreu comes to mind, both in the themes touched on (e.g. Pasaporte) and poetic voice. There's something poetic to Henry Fiol's work, even though the lyrics tend to be simple (e.g. compare his take on Tiene sabor to previous recordings)

Somehow I feel 90 percent is about love or about adoration of countries… (déjame soñar, Cali pachanguero etc)
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There's also food, day to day life, music/dance/party
 
Latinjazz said:
By the way, @Richie Blondet @salsim @DJ Yuca and others: Do you know other salsa singer that have fantastic lyrics? Somehow I feel 90 percent is about love or about adoration of countries… (déjame soñar, Cali pachanguero etc)
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Any song written by Tite Curet Alonso.

Raul Marrero.

Cheo Feliciano.

"Tito" Jimenez.

Julian Silva/Jose Vazquez Cofresi.

Omar Alfanno

What they all have in common is storytelling about everyday life, social ills, and the current events of the day. Those are strictly from the Salsa era ('70s to 2010s).
 
Gaviota said:
Can't not suggest Hansel y Raúl with María Teresa y Danilo

But what are you looking for? Serious non-cliché themes? Elaborate stories? Poetic language?

Along with Rubén Blades, is Willie Colón (with and without Blades/Lavoe) too obvious a suggestion? E.g. El gran varón
Click to expand...

Willie was/is not much of a composer. Fania gave him composer credit to songs he had no part in writing. [eg. Que Lio, Aguanile, Llego La Banda, etc].

Omar Alfanno is who composed El Gran Varon. The song was inspired by a personal friend of his who was dying of the AIDS virus.
 
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The way I understood latinjazz question was composer's who deviate from the romantic/emotional themes that dominate the industry since time immemorial. Someone like Jorge Luis Piloto is a prolific composer and millionaire due to his songs being major hits. No.one can say he sucks, per se. But if you're looking for him to write about "...la barberia de Benny en el Barrio Latino, donde juegan la bolita, noche y dia, y con mucha picardia," etc, then he isn't your man.

Omar Alfanno, who wrote "El Gran Varon," is more known as a Salsa Romantica and Latin Pop composer, due to the U.S. & Puerto Rico market consuming pop-oriented commercial music. He wrote the pop ballad "A Puro Dolor." Another talented composer.

In the end, much of the Salsa Dura of yesteryear is lyrically similar to the Salsa Romantica stuff. What makes the former 'hard core' are the arrangements. Think about it. There's not much difference between a pop Salsa anthem like 'Yo No Se Mañana,' to Salsa dura anthems like "Barrunto." From a lyrical standpoint. They're talking about the same thing brother. The same sniveling tale of woe. The difference is that Luis Cruz, Jr., or whomever arranged Barrunto, makes it sound like Barbara Batiri (in minor). Whereas "Yo no se Mañana" is trying to reproduce a Chayanne ballad vibe for Rey Ruiz, in Afro-Cuban form, a la Miami.
 
Latinjazz said:
By the way, @Richie Blondet @salsim @DJ Yuca and others: Do you know other salsa singer that have fantastic lyrics? Somehow I feel 90 percent is about love or about adoration of countries… (déjame soñar, Cali pachanguero etc)
Click to expand...

No love for Jimmy Bosch? I love his lyrics, they are always meaningful. Sad songs often really do it for me, although sometimes I feel a bit bad dancing to them. Al Vaivén de mi Carreta (Guillermo Portabales) is like this too.

I personally like a lot of the romantic/national pride lyrics too as long as they are good. Like someone up above mentioned, Henry Fiol is very poetic. Por qué Adoré (Markolino Dimond) is like this too, ok it's romantic but so descriptive.
Mi Negrita Me Espera (Ismael Rivera) and a lot of Ibrahim Ferrer songs (eg Las flores en mi jardín) have simple but really amazing lyrics.

Simple but fun saucy lyrics are great too. Songs like El Matrimonio (El Gran Combo) or Si Tú Te Portas Bien (Harry Fraticelli y los Barbarians) with a little conflict in the romantic story line, or party songs with a twist like Feo Pero Sabroso always make me smile.
 
noobster said:
No love for Jimmy Bosch? I love his lyrics, they are always meaningful. Sad songs often really do it for me, although sometimes I feel a bit bad dancing to them. Al Vaivén de mi Carreta (Guillermo Portabales) is like this too.

I personally like a lot of the romantic/national pride lyrics too as long as they are good. Like someone up above mentioned, Henry Fiol is very poetic. Por qué Adoré (Markolino Dimond) is like this too, ok it's romantic but so descriptive.
Mi Negrita Me Espera (Ismael Rivera) and a lot of Ibrahim Ferrer songs (eg Las flores en mi jardín) have simple but really amazing lyrics.

Simple but fun saucy lyrics are great too. Songs like El Matrimonio (El Gran Combo) or Si Tú Te Portas Bien (Harry Fraticelli y los Barbarians) with a little conflict in the romantic story line, or party songs with a twist like Feo Pero Sabroso always make me smile.
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Right after writing my post I realized I had expressed myself wrongly. It’s not that I don’t like the subjects, I just hear many cheesy lyrics in salsa, and often about love. Doesn’t mean I don’t like any of them. However, Blades shines like a sun in that aspect for me.
 
Latinjazz said:
Right after writing my post I realized I had expressed myself wrongly. It’s not that I don’t like the subjects, I just hear many cheesy lyrics in salsa, and often about love.
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Yes, endless love songs can get annoying because the feeling of love is not really reflecting the world that surrounds most people. And vows of eternal love get less credible for me when the singer in each of his music videos is shown with a different woman. But I guess the average latina buying Marc Anthony wants exactly songs for her heart and nothing else. And I guess the only music genres where this might be different may be Death Metal and Punk, where love obviously can't be a central theme. Btw, do you know "This is not a love song" from Public Image Ltd? :cool:
 
MamboJazz said:
Yes, endless love songs can get annoying because the feeling of love is not really reflecting the world that surrounds most people. And vows of eternal love get less credible for me when the singer in each of his music videos is shown with a different woman. But I guess the average latina buying Marc Anthony wants exactly songs for her heart and nothing else. And I guess the only music genres where this might be different may be Death Metal and Punk, where love obviously can't be a central theme. Btw, do you know "This is not a love song" from Public Image Ltd? :cool:
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Oh yes, I do! I trink I was 12 or so when it came out. Not really the first alternative to cheesy lyrics that comes to my mind. :)
 
David said:
I suppose the translation is something like "live gives you suprises, and surprises give you life". So maybe this is sort putting a positive spin on how the surprises of life make like more meaningful? Also, I have a little trouble judging the feeling when he says "Ay Dios!". Is that kind of like OMG?

Here a video that shows the lyrics


And of course this is Ruben Blades
Click to expand...
Seen the documentary on Ruben Blades with Dutch subtitles last year, and the lyrics were translated as "Life is full of surprises, and what kind of surprises."
His lyrics can be helpful in learning Spanish which I've been doing for almost three years now. "Por tu mala mana, deirte sin pagar".
 
noobster said:
No love for Jimmy Bosch? I love his lyrics, they are always meaningful. Sad songs often really do it for me, although sometimes I feel a bit bad dancing to them. Al Vaivén de mi Carreta (Guillermo Portabales) is like this too.
Click to expand...

Hi sheart's in the right place but grammatically speaking his lyrics are poorly expressed in the spanish language. Thus eliminating the poetic nature of the content he is touching upon. The request was for composers who wrote "fantastic lyrics."

I wouldn't consider "Yo me enamore de una mujer. Muy joven para mi." Which, written or stated as is is grammatically problematic for the spanish language. It's obvious JB conjured up the lyrics in english and then gave it a literal translation. Which is not how spanish is expressed.

I'm not saying it's horrible but there's a tiet system in terms of quality and JB's compisitions are not lyricallton the same tier as Ruben Blades, Tite Curet Alonso, Agustin Lara, Rafael Hernandez, Pedro Flores, etc. People of that caliber.
[/QUOTE]
 
It says “the life. The life is great when you eat delicious delicious cured Italian meats such as Sopressatas, thinly shaved with a rustic table wine of the primitivo grapes variety. Throw in some pecorino while your at it”
 
1derpalm said:
It says “the life. The life is great when you eat delicious delicious cured Italian meats such as Sopressatas, thinly shaved with a rustic table wine of the primitivo grapes variety. Throw in some pecorino while your at it”
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Yeah that's exactly what PEDRO NAVAJA is about. Italian cuisine. :rofl:
 
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