Cumbiana Lyrics in English Carlos Vives

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Cumbiana by Carlos Vives from Spanish to English.

I'm eating red berries from your orchard

I'm watching crystal zeppelins

The words that I'll say are already flying

I love you, I'll say I love you, I'll say I'm waiting for you, and you, what will you say?

I'm sensing signals from some harbor

I'm hearing your songs in a bar

I'm drinking the words that I'll say

I love you, I'll say I love you, I'll say I'm waiting for you, and you, what will you say?

And it's that with you life has to be real

It has to feel nice to be the leading man in your story

And to whisper in your ear when I find you again

Look at me, love me, sit with me and tell me

Your sorrows, Cumbiana, your sublime dreams, tell me

The currants of your tale are already ripe

The whole sea is already sown with horse mackerel

I'm already fishing the words that I'll say

I love you, I'll say I love you, I'll say I'm waiting for you, and you, what will you say?

And it's that with you life has to be real

It has to feel nice to be the leading man in your story

And to whisper in your ear when I find you again

Look at me, love me, sit with me and tell me

Your sorrows, Cumbiana, your sublime dreams, tell me

And it'll be if you want it and you dream it

Tell me if oblivion stole your mornings

Tell me if you cried over tenderness and rage

Tell me if you want, I'll move the mountain

And together we heal the homeland's pain

In a little house that has a flag

So that you love me like I love my land

A forest, a dog, a wooden rocking chair

A pink room where a star sleeps

And it's that with you life has to be real

It has to feel nice to be the leading man in your story

And to whisper in your ear when I find you again

Look at me, love me, sit with me and tell me

Your sorrows, Cumbiana, your sublime dreams, tell me

I will stay with you

The time of greed and fear will pass

The water will return and this will be our land

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Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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SONG MEANING

Cumbiana feels like a dreamy postcard that Carlos Vives sends from the Colombian Caribbean. While he tastes red berries, listens to distant songs and waits for the right words — Te quiero, te amo, te espero — he turns the marshlands where cumbia was born into a beautiful woman named Cumbiana. The singer wants to be the leading man in her story, whispering love in her ear and inviting her to share her joys and sorrows. Every image is vibrant: crystal zeppelins in the sky, oceans filled with fish, ripened gooseberries ready to pick. All of it paints the warm, colorful landscape of Colombia’s northern coast and the irresistible pull of its music.

Beyond romance, the song is a heartfelt promise to heal a wounded homeland. Vives asks Cumbiana if forgetting stole her mornings or if she cried from tenderness and rage, then vows to move mountains so both lover and country can start anew. He dreams of a small house with a flag, a forest, a dog and a wooden rocking chair — a simple life where love of person and love of land blend into one. By the final lines, he proclaims that greed and fear will pass, the waters will return, and the land will be theirs again. In short, “Cumbiana” is a love letter and a hopeful anthem wrapped in the rhythms that gave birth to cumbia itself.