La Bamba (Meaning: the beat) is a traditional Mexican folk song from the state of Veracruz. While the song lyrics were often traditionally improvised, the earliest recording was made by Alvaro Hernández Ortiz in 1938. In 1958, Ritchie Valens made the song famous with his rock version rising to the top of the US charts. In 1987, Los Lobos‘ version from the 1987 movie La Bamba rose to no. 1 in many countries.
La Bamba – Spanish Lyrics & English Translation
Listen to La bamba
The video of Los Lobos version of La Bamba has over 25 million views on YouTube.
Lyrics analysis
In this section, we explain the vocabulary and grammar of the Spanish lyrics.
Para bailar La Bamba
La bamba in Spanish translates to “the beat”. The feminine noun bamba is realted to the verb bambolear, which means “to sway”, “to totter” and “to wobble”.
This first line of the song translates to: “To dance the beat”. The word para in Spanish can translate to “for or “in order to”. Hence, another transation for this line could be: “In order to dance the beat”.
Se necesita una poca de gracia
This line translates to “You need a little grace”. The Spanish verb necisitar means “to need”. In the reflexive form necesitarse means “is needed”. Hence, se necesita could translate to “you need” or “one needs”.
Un poco de means “a little + noun” or “some + noun”. The feminine noun gracia can translate to flair, grace or ease. Hence, una poca de gracia means “a little grace” or “some grace”.
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti
This line is a shortening of para mí, para ti, meaning “for me, for you”.
ay arriba, y arriba
These words were actually a bit tricky to translate directly into English. In Spansih, arriba translates to “up” or “above”. However, ¡arriba! is also an interjection of encouragement meaning “come on!”. In our translation, we went with “come on!”.
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré
We translated this line to “For you I will be”. Seré is the verb ser (to be) in conjugated in the first-person singular (yo) from of the future tense.
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán
These words translates to: I’m not a sailor, I’m the capitain.
La Bamba Spanish Lyrics & English Translation
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Y arriba, y arriba
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré
To dance the beat
To dance the beat
You need a little grace
A little grace
For me, for you, ah come on! ah come on!
And come on! come on!
For you I will be, for you I will be, for you I will be
Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán
Soy capitán, soy capitán
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam
I am not a sailor
I am not a sailor, I’m (the) captain
I’m the captain, I’m the captain
Beat, beat
Beat, beat
beat, beat, beat
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
To dance the beat
To dance the beat
You need a little grace
A little grace
For me, for you, ah come on! ah come on!
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Pa’ mí, pa’ ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Y arriba, y arriba
Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré
To dance the beat
To dance the beat
You need a little grace
A little grace
For me, for you, ah come on! ah come on!
And come on! come on!
For you I will be, for you I will be, for you I will be
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Conclusion
¡Felicitaciónes! You now know the song lyrics to La Bamba! Now check our our post covering the lyrics of another famous Spanish language song, Bésame Mucho by Consuelo Velázquez.
- La Bamba Meaning, Spanish Lyrics & English Translation - May 4, 2024
- Bésame Mucho Meaning, Spanish Lyrics & English Translation - May 3, 2024
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