Coplas del canto

(Habanera)

Singing for the sake of it is worth it,
you can sing milongas or sing plenas,
because the verse says that the song begins
when everyone's singing is straightened out.

Let the song come to its source,
live in the shadow
of the one who has it in front,
but doesn't name it.

There's no singer who doesn't sing to be heard,
but the verse waits for him to spit it out.
Because the verse is a stream from that source,
where the song and the people form a torrent,
and the favored singer, better get excited
to sing some verse that hurts him.

After living so long
in front of the cemetery
I'm not afraid of death
or its mystery.

Your eyes make me live
and your ways,
put on my red carnation,
so it doesn't die.

Let the singer sing his verse in such a way,
that by singing it, his whole life revives.
There are singers who show off big voices,
but don't sing verses of few notes.
And there are some who sing better than others,
but all the songs belong to us.

Like opinions
with reasons,
women join
with men.

"Every time I remember Florida
the uphill becomes downhill for me".

Let it be certain that the verse says
what in the open song roots.
Because a verse born in that stream
lives with other verses among the people.
When the people sing them, it's just the beginning
of the life of the verses and their certainty.

Singing a song of nobody
is better than nothing,
for the singer there's no verse
more beloved.

When the song is contained
sadness
it goes to the head,
bad drink.

It's worth more a poorly stitched lament,
than singing well thought out verses.
No one knows in what time they were born
the best verses of my people;
an open path in the field with many footprints,
the words of everyone live in them.

There are songs like flowers
out of tune,
they sound much better
than well sung.

Let the song come to its source,
live in the shadow
of the one who has it in front
but doesn't name it.

(The italicized texts correspond to recited parts)