El Son de la Negra, meaning “the Song of the Black Woman” is a Mexican folk song from the state of Nayarit. The song is widely known as Mexico’s second national anthem. This post explains the vocabulary and grammar of song’s Spanish lyrics.
El Son de la Negra Lyrics
El Son de la Negra Spanish Lyrics and English translation
Negrita de mis pesares
Black woman of my sorrows
Ojos de papel volando
Eyes of flying paper
Negrita de mis pesares
Black woman of my sorrows
Ojos de papel volando
Eyes of flying paper
A todos diles que sí
Tell them all “yes”
Pero no les digas cuando
But don’t tell them when
Así me dijiste a mí
That’s what you said to me
Por eso vivo penando
that’s why I live in pain
¿Cuando me traes a mi Negra?
When will you bring my black woman?
Que la quiero ver aquí
I want to see her here
Con su rebozo de ceda
With its silk shawl
Que le traje de Tepic
that I brought for her from Tepic
(Second stanza repeats)
Lyrics vocabulary and grammar
Negrita de mis pesares
This first line translates to “Black woman of my sorrows”. Translation for negrita include “black woman” and “black-haired woman”. Negrita is a diminutive if negro (both an adjective and noun). The verb pesar means both to weight and to regret. As a noun, pesar (m) means sorrow, pain and remorse.
Ojos de papel volando
This line translates to “Eyes of flying paper”. Volando is the present participle of the verb volar, which means both to fly and to steal.
A todos diles que sí
This line translates to “Tell them all yes. Diles (tell them) combines the verb dar (to give) in the imperative mood and les, an indirect object pronoun meaning “them”.
Pero no les digas cuando
This line translates to “But don’t tell them when”. Digas (don’t tell) is the verb decir (to say) in the negative imperative mood in the second-person singular (tú) form.
Así me dijiste a mí
This line translates to “That’s what you said to me”. Así has multiple translations including like this, in this way and thus. Dijiste is the verb decir conjugated in the preterite tense in the tú form.
Por eso vivo penando
This line translates to “that’s why I live in pain”. The adverbial phrase por eso can translates to “because of that” and “that’s way.
¿Cuando me traes a mi Negra?
This line translates to “When will you bring my black woman?” The verb traer can translates to “to bring”, “to wear” and “to carry”.
Que la quiero ver aquí
This line translates to “I want to see her here”. The verb querer means both to like and to love. La is a direct object pronoun meaning “her”.
Con su rebozo de ceda
This line translates to “With its silk shawl”. The masculine noun rebozo means shawl and the verb rebozar means to cover.
Que le traje de Tepic
This line translates to “that I brought for her from Tepic”. The le in this line is a indirect object pronoun meaning “to her”. Traje is the verb traer conjugated in the first-person singular form (yo) in the preterite tense.
Discover more songs
- Cielito Lindo (Mexican folk song)
- La cucaracha (Mexican folk song)
- Por Tu Maldito Amor (Vicente Fernández)
- La Bamba
Reference
El Son de la Negra (Wikipedia)
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