El Cantante Lyrics in English Héctor Lavoe

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song El Cantante by Héctor Lavoe from Spanish to English.

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Verse 1

I am the singer

That today you've come to listen to

The best from the repertoire

To you I am going to offer

And I sing to life of laughter and sorrows

Of bad moments and of good things

You came to have fun

And paid at the door

There's no time for sadness

Come on singer, start

Verse 2

They stop me always on the street

Many people who comment

Hey Héctor, you're done

Always with women and at parties

And nobody asks if I suffer or if I cry

If I have a sorrow that hurts very deeply

I am the singer

Because my thing is to sing

And the audience pays

To be able to listen to me

Verse 3

I am the singer

Very popular everywhere

But when the show ends

I'm just another human

And I continue my life with laughter and sorrows

With bitter moments and with good things

I am the singer

And my business is to sing

And to those who follow me

My song I'm going to offer

Verse 4

They're better than those of yesterday, compare me critics

If you don't love me while I'm alive, when I die, don't cry for me

I sing to you about life, forget your sorrows and pains

Dance if you want to dance, sing if you want to sing, honey

I am the singer, let's celebrate

I don't want sadness, my thing is to sing, sing

The mountain's chant, those were songs

Listen to my proclamation that says

Verse 5

It's not so easy to sing, as certain gentlemen believe

Life has given me everything, disappointments and hopes

A greeting to my opponents I send, they also deserve honors

I shake the world, get ready dancers

Singing I forget the sorrows and also the bitterness

Listen well to that chorus, it says everything yes gentlemen

There are those who sing with skirts, I sing with pants

Let's be a song with the best singers

My greetings to Celia, Rivera, Feliciano, those are great singers

They sing for real, they always make people enjoy

Listen well to their singing, learn from the best

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Lyrics © DistroKid, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Ruben Blades

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SONG MEANING

“El Cantante” is Héctor Lavoe’s vibrant love letter to the stage and, at the same time, a candid confession about what hides behind the spotlight. Over a pulsating salsa groove, Lavoe proudly declares, “Yo soy el cantante,” promising to give the crowd the very best of his repertoire so they can laugh, dance, and forget their troubles for a while. He invites listeners to celebrate, to move, and to join the party they paid for at the door.

Yet the song is also a heartfelt reminder that the man electrifying the dance floor is still a regular human being once the curtain closes. Lavoe pulls back the curtain on the singer’s life of “risas y penas,” telling us that few ever ask whether he suffers or cries. Singing becomes both his business and his therapy: it lets him shake off bitterness, honor fellow artists, and salute critics with swagger. “El Cantante” is ultimately a celebration of music’s power to lift spirits while hinting at the bittersweet reality that every performer carries offstage.

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Héctor Lavoe El Cantante Lyrics