Ten Music Video Highlights of 2011

4. Calle 13 – Latinoamerica

When Puerto Rico’s Calle 13 finally released Latinoamerica as a single, people sang “Latin America finally has a hymn!” And so it seems. [1]

I’m, I’m what was left,
I’m what’s left of everything they took away.
A town hidden at the top,
my skin is leather that’s why it endures all weather.

I’m a smoke factory,
peasant’s labor for your own consumption,
cold-headed in the middle of summer,
Love in the Times of Cholera, my brother.

The sun that rises and the day that dies,
with the best of sunsets.
I’m raw development,
a political speech with no saliva.

The beautiful faces that I’ve met,
I’m the photograph of a missing person.
The blood running through your veins,
I’m a piece of land that’s worth it,
a bag of beans.

I’m Maradona against England,
scoring two goals,
I’m what’s holding up my flag,
the backbone of the planet is my cordillera.

I’m what my father taught me,
one who doesn’t love his motherland,
doesn’t love his mother.
I’m America Latina,
a town without legs but keeps on walking

Listen.

*You can not buy the wind.
You can not buy the sun.
You can not buy the rain.
You can not buy the warmth.
You can not buy the clouds.
You can not buy the colors.
You can not buy my happiness.
You can not buy my pains.

I have the lakes, I have the rivers,
I have my teeth for when I give a smile.
The snow that makes up my mountains,
I have the sun that dries me up and the rain that bathes me.

A desert drunk with peyote,
a sip of Pulque to sing with the coyotes.
Everything I need,
I have my lungs breathing clear blue.

The altitude that suffocates,
I’m the teeth in my mouth chewing coca.
The fall with its fallen leaves,
the verses written under the starry night.

A vineyard full of grapes,
A canebrake under the sun in Cuba.
I’m the Caribbean Sea watching over little houses,
performing rituals with holy water.

The wind that combs my hair,
I’m all the saints that hang over my neck,
the spirit of my struggle isn’t artificial
because my land’s fertilizer is natural.

*

You can not buy the sun.
You can not buy the rain.
We keep on walking.
We keep on drawing the road.
You can not buy my life,
my land is not for sale.

I work hard but with pride,
Here we share, whatever is mine is yours.
This town doesn’t drown against the moving tides,
and if it falls apart, I’ll build it up.

I don’t even blink when I look at you
so you’ll remember my last name,
Operation condor invading my nest,
I forgive but never forget.

Listen.

We keep on walking,
here we breath struggle.
We keep on walking,
I sing because it’s heard.

Here we are standing,
Viva Latinoamerica.

Translated from AZLyrics.com