El Aguante Lyrics in English Calle 13

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song El Aguante by Calle 13 from Spanish to English.

Verse 1

We were born to endure what the body holds

We endure what came and we endure what is coming

We endure even though we have our seconds numbered

Our body endures up to fifteen minutes hanging

We endure lashings, that they cut off both our arms

Fractures in any bone, three weeks in a cast

We endure the urge to go to the bathroom all the time

To see Halley’s comet, you have to endure seventy years

We endure school, college, the institute

At dinner time, we hold in the burps

The people of Burundi keep enduring famine

We endure three days to get to the moon

We endure the cold of the Arctic, the heat of the Tropic

We endure with antibodies the microscopic viruses

We endure storms, hurricanes, bad weather

We endure Nagasaki, we endure Hiroshima

Even if we don't want to, we endure new laws

We endure today that kings still exist

We punish the humble and endure the cruel

We endure being slaves because of our skin color

We endure capitalism, communism, socialism

Feudalism, we even endure a**holism

We endure the guilty one when he pretends to be innocent

We endure our president every year

For what was and for what could have been

For what there is, for what may be missing

For what will come and for this instant

Let's toast for endurance!

For what was and for what could have been

For what there is, for what may be missing

For what will come and for this instant

Raise the glass and let's toast for endurance!

Let's toast for endurance!

Verse 2

We endure any kind of pain even though it hurts

We endure Pinochet, we endure Videla

Franco, Mao, Ríos Montt, Mugabe, Hitler, Idi Amin

Stalin, Bush, Truman, Ariel Sharon and Hussein

We endure more than twenty concentration camps

When you swim underwater you hold your breath

To build a wall we endure the bricks

Whoever doesn't smoke endures the cigarette smell

We endure that Monsanto infects our food

We endure Agent Orange and the pesticides

When we sail, we endure seasickness

We endure the minimum wage and unemployment

We endure the Falklands and the British invasion

In the city of Pompeii we endure volcanic lava

And inside the logic of our humanity

We believe the lie and nobody endures the truth

For what was and for what could have been

For what there is, for what may be missing

For what will come and for this instant

Raise the glass and let's toast for endurance!

Let's toast for endurance!

Verse 3

We endure the atheist, the Mormon, the Christian

The Buddhist, the Jew, we endure the pagan

We endure the one who sells bullets and the one who fires them

We endure Lennon's death, Víctor Jara's

We endure many wars, Vietnam, the Cold War

The Hundred Years' War, the Six-Day War

That they endure the revenge, we came for payback

Today our liver endures whatever the bar offers

Hey! For what was

Hey! For what is

Hey! For what will be

Hey! Sláinte

For what was and for what could have been

For what there is, for what may be missing

For what will come and for this instant

Let's toast for endurance!

For what was and for what could have been

For what there is, for what may be missing

For what will come and for this instant

Raise the glass and let's toast for endurance!

Let's toast for endurance!

Lyrics and Translations Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Rene Perez Joglar, Eduardo Cabra

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SONG MEANING

In “El Aguante,” Puerto Rican powerhouse Calle 13 turns a rousing pub-style toast into a lyrical marathon of everything humanity can survive. Over pounding drums and Celtic violins, Residente fires off a rapid-fire inventory: broken bones, hurricanes, dictators, world wars, bad bosses, hunger, and even waiting 70 years for Halley’s Comet. Each line reminds us that, from holding our breath under water to enduring Hiroshima, people keep going. The chorus invites us to raise a glass not to pain itself, but to the stubborn resilience that lets us push through it.

Yet the song is more than a feel-good salute. By stacking examples of injustice next to everyday annoyances, Calle 13 points out how easily we normalize suffering. We “aguantamos” (put up with) oppressive leaders, poisoned food, and wage gaps just as we tolerate school exams or long lines at the bathroom. The result is a clever mix of celebration and critique: a party anthem that doubles as a wake-up call. So when Residente shouts “¡A brindar por el aguante!” he’s cheering our ability to endure—while hinting that maybe, just maybe, it’s time we stopped merely enduring and started demanding better.

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Calle 13 El Aguante Lyrics