Translation: Óleo de Una Mujer Con Sombrero

I have been enjoying this song the past few months but have been really dissatisfied with all of the English translations online. I took a stab at my own, below:

Óleo de Una Mujer Con Sombrero

Una mujer se ha perdido
Conocer el delirio y el polvo
Se ha perdido, esta bella locura
Su breve cintura debajo de mí
Se ha perdido, mi forma de amar
Se ha perdido, mi huella en su mar


Veo una luz que vacila
Y promete dejarnos a oscuras
Veo un perro ladrando a la Luna
Con otra figura que recuerda a mí
Veo más: Veo que no me halló
Veo más: Veo que se perdió

Una mujer innombrable
Huye como una gaviota
Y yo, rápido, seco mis botas
Blasfemo una nota y apago el reloj
Que me tenga cuidado el amor
Que le puedo cantar su canción

La cobardía es asunto
De los hombres, no de los amantes
Los amores cobardes no llegan a amores
Ni a historias, se quedan allí
Ni el recuerdo los puede salvar
Ni el mejor orador conjugar


Una mujer con sombrero
Como un cuadro del viejo Chagall
Corrompiéndose al centro del miedo
Y yo, que no soy bueno, me puse a llorar

Pero entonces lloraba por mí
Y ahora lloro por verla morir

Pero entonces lloraba por mí
Y ahora lloro por verla morir
Oil Painting of a Lady in a Hat

A woman has been lost
to a meeting with delirium and dust
She has lost herself, this beautiful madness,
her delicate waist beneath me
Gone is my way of loving,
Gone is my footprint in her sea

I see a light that flickers
and promises to leave us in darkness
I see a dog barking at the Moon
with another figure that resembles me
I see more: I see that he never found me
I see more: I see that he lost himself

An unnamable lady
takes flight like a seagull
And I, quickly, dry my boots,
spit out a curse, and turn off the clock
Love had better be careful with me,
for I know how to sing its true song

Cowardice is a matter
of men, not of lovers
Cowardly loves never grow into true loves,
nor legends, they stay as they are
Neither memory can save them,
nor the best storyteller bring them to life

A Lady in a Hat,
like a painting by the old man Chagall,
decaying to the core from fear
And I, who am no good, began to cry

But back then I was crying for me
and now I’m crying as I watch her fade

But back then I was crying for me
and now I’m crying as I watch her fade

2 responses to “Translation: Óleo de Una Mujer Con Sombrero”

  1. Great song—I praise your taste.

    ”Perderse X” means to miss out on X, to fail to experience X.

    Therefore:

    A woman has missed her chance for delirium and dust.

    She has missed out on this beautiful madness,

    her slender waist beneath me.

    She has missed out on my way of loving, etc.

    So the undertone here is not just melancholy or regret; there’s a subtle bitterness to it. A “your loss” attitude carrying a mix of wounded pride and reproach. You missed out on this wild, beautiful, passionate experience with me. That’s on you, coward lady.

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    1. Thanks Victor. I think the translation of “perderse” is the trickiest part of this song, since it appears so many times in so many contexts. The songwriter is clearly playing on these different senses of the verb, and I think there is an intentional ambiguity to the Spanish that I’ve tried to faithfully render in the English (to the best of my ability).

      I think your translation of the “perderse” as “to miss out on” is super intriguing and definitely changes the tone, as you note. But I’m curious if you think that same translation holds up in the final line of Stanza 1: “Se ha perdido, mi huella en su mar” – it would seem weird to me to translate that as “she has missed out on my footprint in her sea”, which led me to leaning on the “lost” translation, as in “se me perdieron mis llaves” (“I lost my keys”). In this case, the “se” pronoun is less about indicating reflexivity and more about indicating the passive tense, and the verb meaning is slightly modified accordingly.

      Would love to hear your thoughts on that distinction. Again, I think there is intentional ambiguity here, and while it may sound like a cop out, I think that does actually render a “perfect” translation impossible and makes room for many different interpretations of this verb in particular.

      Gracias por leer!

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