"Octavo Da" by Shakira, English translation of lyrics

"Eighth Day"
Album: Dnde Estn Los Ladrones? (Where Are The Thieves?), 1998
Style: Rock, brunette Shakira
Country: Colombia
Listen:
On YouTube here. Eleven years later, Lily Allen released a similarly speculative song about God called"Him".
Both songs have rather pessimistic world views.
[Expand embedded video here]
Translation:
El octavo da, Dios,
Despus de tanto trabajar,
Para liberar tensiones
Luego ya de revisar,
The eighth day, God,
After so much working,
To relieve stress [*lit. To free tensions]
After looking over His work,
Dijo todo est muy bien,
Es hora de descansar,
Y se fue a dar un paseo
Por el espacio sideral.
Said everything is very good,
It is time to rest
And He went for a walk
In the celestial space.
Quien se iba a imaginar que
El mismo Dios al regresar,
Iba a encontrarlo todo
En un desorden infernal.
Who could imagine that
The same God, on returning,
Would find it all
In an infernal chaos.
Y que se iba a convertir en
Un desempleado ms
De la tasa que anualmente
Est creciendo sin parar.
And that He would turn into
One more unemployed
In the pool that annually
Increases without stopping.
Desde ese entonces hay
Quienes lo han visto
Solo en las calles transitar.
Since then there's been

Those who have seen Him

Alone on the streets, walking.
Anda esperando
Paciente por alguien
Con quien al menos tranquilo
Pueda conversar.
He is waiting
Patiently for someone
With whom He can at least
Calmly chat.
Chorus:
----------------------------------------Mientras tanto
Este mundo gira y gira
Sin poderlo detener.
Meanwhile
This world spins and spins
Without stopping. [*lit. Without being able to be stopped.]
Y aqu abajo unos cuantos
Nos manejan
Como fichas de ajedrez.
And down here, a few handfuls
Rule us
Like chess pieces.
No soy la clase de idiota
Que se deja convencer,
Pero digo la verdad
Y hasta un ciego lo puede ver.
I am not the kind of idiot
That is easily convinced,
But I speak the truth
And even a blind person can see it.
----------------------------------------Si a falta de ocupacin
O de excesiva soledad
Dios no resistiera ms
Y se marchara a otro lugar.
If for need of something to do
Or from excessive solitude
God no longer resisted [*alt. God no longer endured it]
And left for someplace else.
Sera nuestra perdicin.
No habra otro remedio ms
Que adorar a Michael Jackson
A Bill Clinton o a Tarzan.
It would be our undoing.
There would be no other remedy but
To worship Michael Jackson,
Bill Clinton, or Tarzan (instead).

Es ms difcil ser rey sin corona

Que una persona ms normal.
It is more difficult being king without a crown
Than (being) a more average person.
Pobre de Dios que no sale en revistas,
No es modelo ni artista
O de familia real.
Poor God who does not come out in magazines,
He is not a model, a celebrity,
Or of royal family.
[Chorus x2]
Translation Notes:
Originally translated in 2004 and posted on my Geocities website until October 2009 (here is the archived
version). I edited the translation and added some notes in-text.
Tags: shakira