"Luna" by Juanes, English translation of lyrics

"Moon"
Album: Un Da Normal (A Normal Day), 2002
Style: Pop/rock, sweet, singing to the moon about love
Country: Colombia
Luna de todas la noches
Iluminame esta noche
Dime si ella es la reina
Y la duea de todo mi amor
Moon of all nights
Illuminate this night for me
Tell me if she is the queen
And the owner of all my love
Luna, lunita, lunera*
Luna llena, luna perla
Dime si ella es la reina
Y la duea de todo mi amor
Moon, moonie, mooner moon
Full moon, pearl moon
Tell me if she is the queen
And the owner of all my love
----------------------------------Refrain:
Y dime si ella es de mi voz la piel
Y dime si ella es mi razn de ser*
And tell me if she is the skin of my voice
And tell me if she is my reason for being
----------------------------------Luna de tantos amores
Luna viva, luna hermosa
Dime si ella es la reina
Y la duea de todo mi amor
Moon of so many loves
Moon alive, gorgeous moon
Tell me if she is the queen
And the owner of all my love
Luna de noches en grima*
Luna de la nochecita
Dime si ella es la reina
Y la duea de todo mi amor
Moon of uneasy nights
Moon of the darling night
Tell me if she is the queen
And the owner of all my love
[Refrain: "Y dime si..."]
Ah ahh ahhh ahhhh
-----------------------------------

Chorus:
Yo te doy todo mi amor
Luna de mi corazn
Yo te doy todo mi amor
Si t me lo cuentas todo
I give you all my love
Moon of my heart
I give you all my love
If you tell me all of it
Luna yo todo te doy
Luna de mi corazn
Yo te doy todo mi amor
Si t me lo cuentas todo
Moon, I give you everything
Moon of my heart
I give you all my love
If you tell me all of it
----------------------------------Luna luna, lunita lunera
Cascabelera bendita
Se ha venido al umbraje de andaluz
Que viene cargando esta cruz
Y dime de una vez si es ella la que yo quiero
Moon moon, darling nocturnal moon
Blessed little scatterbrain
It has arrived to the Andalusian shadow
That comes bearing this cross
And tell me once and for all if she is the one who I love
Luna luna, lunita lunera
Dime todos tus secretos
Moon moon, darling nocturnal moon
Tell me all your secrets
(Guitar solo)
[Refrain: "Y dime si..."]
Ah ahh ahhh ahhhh
[Chorus: "Yo te doy todo mi amor...", x2]
(Luna luna, lunita lunera...)
Translation Notes:
Luna, lunita, lunera
Luna = moon
Lunita = luna + -ita (diminutive, affectionate suffix) = little moon
Lunera = implies nocturnal, someone who likes to spend time in the moonlight
I translated the line differently in different places.
Moon, moonie, mooner moon - gets the alliteration
Moon, darling nocturnal moon - strings the words together

--Y dime si ella es de mi voz la piel

And tell me if she is the skin of my voice
And tell me if she is of my voice the skin [lit.]
--razn de ser (Spanish) = raison d'tre (French) = reason for being (English)
--Luna de noches en grima = Moon of uneasy nights
Noches de grima is not a common phrase. I searched for it online and it only came up in this Juanes
song.Grima is related to English "grim."
The line might also mean, "moon of less happy nights."
--Cascabelera = Cascabeler (made up word, from direct translation)
It might refer to a person that uses cascabels (an instrument with jingle bells).
See comments.
By the way, in other contexts, cascabel = the rattle of a rattlesnake. Random vocabulary for you.
Listen:
At YouTube here.
Tags: juanes
Posted on May. 11th, 2008 at 01:17 pm | Link | Leave a comment | 6 comments | Share

Comments

trispen2126
Thanks for this! The "grima" part was driving me crazy...
Posted on Jun. 11th, 2008 10:00 pm (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguas
Haha, me too! That was the last line I was working on before posting this.
Posted on Jun. 21st, 2008 05:39 pm (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

Grima
hi i just looked up the term on wikipedia, here's the link: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grima
maybe someone else had already posted it.
Posted on Jul. 25th, 2008 07:08 am (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguas

Re: Grima
Thank you for trying to help, but it's not what the word "grima" means that's unclear. That's simple, and you
can look it up in a dictionary likehttp://www.diccionarios.com/ easily. It's the entire phrase, "luna de
noches en grima," that's up for interpretation.
The link you posted is about the Colombian sport, esgrima colombiana, that's similar to fencing. It doesn't
have anything to do with this, unfortunately.
Posted on Jul. 25th, 2008 07:29 am (UTC) | Link | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)
Cascabelera is a harebrained person or flustered mind. It's more a layman's term, than a literal translation.
it refers to either someone dim-witted, naive or scatterbrained.
Luna luna, lunita luneraCascabelera bendita,
Se has vena al umbral de andaluz
Que viene cargando esta cruz
Y dime de una vez si es ella la que yo quiero
A better translation is:
Moon, my little moon, nocturnal moon
Blessed flustering
(as in she makes him feel flustered, but he welcomes it because he loves her)
You have come to the threshold of this Andalusian,
who comes bearing this cross.
I'm a native speaker and I LOVE this song, so I hope this helps.
And tell me once and for all if she is the one who I love
Posted on Dec. 14th, 2010 03:09 am (UTC) | Link | Thread | Reply

cairaguas
Ah, thank you. I'm not from Colombia and I hadn't heard the word used like that. I know "cascabelera" like
"rattle" (like a baby's rattle toy or like the bells), but that didn't seem right, so I improvised. I'll adjust the
translation.
Posted on Dec. 16th, 2010 04:33 am