EL DÍA QUE PERDÍ MI JUVENTUD – Bilingual Lyrics Spanish/English

• By: Nathy Peluso, Blood Orange
• Album: GRASA

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the poignant beauty of 'EL DÍA QUE PERDÍ MI JUVENTUD,' a song that transcends language to touch upon the universal feeling of nostalgia for lost innocence. Through its poetic Spanish lyrics, you can learn to express deep, reflective emotions. This collaboration between Nathy Peluso and Blood Orange is special for its raw honesty and its beautiful, minimalist acoustic arrangement that lets the heartfelt message shine through.

[English]

Doodles on the calendar

They don't let me smoke in the room

I just want to erase from my memory

The day I lost my youth

With these machines nowadays

I'm sure they invented one

That could bring me back to earth

Right on the day I lost my youth

There are no witnesses to the moment it disappeared

I wish I could get it back with a shot

Today I returned to the school gate

To see if I still recognize it

I think they stole my innocence

The day I lost my youth

I'm going to smoke a cigarette

And cry on a bench

Nostalgia visits me, remembering

That distant day when I lost my youth

I need spring to come back

I need a detox

For someone to sell me a time machine

Or for luck to strike so I can be myself again

How fast the planes fly

And how long everything takes to move forward

I dreamed I was a child and I was flying

And playing, I hid in the crowd

Suitcases are already at the door

I have nothing left to lose

I'm going to write a prophecy

And recover the day I lost my youth

[Spanish]

Garabatos en el calendario

No me dejan fumar en la habitación

Solo quiero borrar de mi memoria

El día que perdí mi juventud

Con esas máquinas de ahora

Seguro que inventaron una

Que me devuelva a la tierra

Justo el día en que perdí mi juventud

No hay ningún testigo del momento de la desaparición

Ojalá pudiera volver a tenerla con una inyección

Hoy volví a la puerta de la escuela

Para ver si aún la reconozco

Creo que robaron mi inocencia

El día que perdí mi juventud

Voy a fumarme un cigarrillo

Y en un banco me echaré a llorar

Me visita la nostalgia recordando

Ese lejano día en que perdí mi juventud

Necesito que vuelva la primavera

Necesito una desintoxicación

Que me vendan una máquina del tiempo

O que me dé un golpe de suerte para volver a ser yo

Qué rápido que vuelan los aviones

Y cuánto tarda todo en avanzar

Soñé que era una niña y que volaba

Y jugando me escondía entre la multitud

Ya están en la puerta las valijas

No me queda nada que perder

Voy a escribir una profecía 

Y a recuperar el día que perdí mi juventud

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
juventud /xuβenˈtud/ A2	noun - youth; the period of being young
memoria /meˈmoɾja/ B1	noun - memory; ability to remember or recollection
máquina /ˈmakina/ A2	noun - machine; device using mechanical power
tierra /ˈtjera/ A2	noun - earth; ground or planet
desaparición /desapaɾiˈθjon/ B2	noun - disappearance; the act of vanishing or ceasing to exist
inocencia /inoˈθenθja/ B2	noun - innocence; purity, lack of guilt or experience
nostalgia /nosˈtalxja/ C1	noun - nostalgia; sentimental longing for the past
primavera /pɾimaˈβeɾa/ A2	noun - spring; the season after winter
desintoxicación /desintoksikaˈθjon/ C1	noun - detoxification; process of removing toxins or dependencies
profecía /pɾofeˈθia/ C1	noun - prophecy; prediction of the future
soñar /soˈɲaɾ/ A2	verb - to dream; to experience thoughts or images while asleep
llorar /ʎoˈɾaɾ/ A1	verb - to cry; to shed tears
volver /bolˈβeɾ/ A2	verb - to return; to come or go back
borrar /boˈraɾ/ B1	verb - to erase; remove writing, marks, or memories
reconocer /rekonoˈθeɾ/ B2	verb - to recognize; identify something previously known
veloz /beˈloθ/ B2	adjective - fast, swift, quick

Key Grammar Structures

• No me dejan fumar en la habitación

  ➔ Negative structure with pronoun and infinitive verb.

  ➔ The phrase 'No me dejan fumar' means 'They don’t let me smoke'. 'No' negates, 'me' is the indirect object pronoun, 'dejan' the conjugated verb, and 'fumar' an infinitive.

• Solo quiero borrar de mi memoria

  ➔ Use of infinitive after a conjugated verb.

  ➔ 'Quiero borrar' means 'I want to erase'. In Spanish, certain verbs like 'querer' are followed by another verb in the infinitive form.

• Con esas máquinas de ahora

  ➔ Use of preposition 'con' to indicate accompaniment or means.

  ➔ 'Con esas máquinas' means 'with those machines'. The preposition 'con' expresses accompaniment or instrument.

• No hay ningún testigo del momento

  ➔ Use of double negation with 'no' and 'ningún'.

  ➔ 'No hay ningún testigo' means 'There is no witness'. In Spanish, it's grammatical to use both 'no' and 'ningún' for emphasis.

• Ojalá pudiera volver a tenerla

  ➔ Use of the imperfect subjunctive after 'ojalá'.

  ➔ The verb 'pudiera' expresses a hypothetical wish. 'Ojalá' introduces an unreal or unlikely desire.

• Hoy volví a la puerta de la escuela

  ➔ Use of past tense 'volví' with prepositional phrase.

  ➔ 'Volví' means 'I returned'. The phrase 'a la puerta de la escuela' shows the destination using the preposition 'a'.

• Voy a fumarme un cigarrillo

  ➔ Periphrastic future with reflexive pronoun.

  ➔ ‘Voy a fumarme’ uses ‘ir a + infinitive’ for near future, and 'me' adds reflexive or emphatic meaning: 'I’m going to smoke (for myself)'.

• Que me vendan una máquina del tiempo

  ➔ Subjunctive used after an implied wish or demand.

  ➔ ‘Que me vendan’ means ‘(may) they sell me’. It expresses a wish, so the verb uses the subjunctive form.

• Qué rápido que vuelan los aviones

  ➔ Exclamative structure with 'qué' for emphasis.

  ➔ ‘Qué rápido que vuelan...’ expresses admiration or surprise, equivalent to ‘How fast the planes fly!’.