Vamo' A Portarnos Mal – Bilingual Lyrics Spanish/English

• By: Calle 13

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the Spanish language with the vibrant energy of Calle 13's 'Vamo' A Portarnos Mal.' This song is a fantastic tool for language learners, offering a rich vocabulary of colloquialisms and expressions related to rebellion and celebration. Its fast-paced, repetitive chorus makes it easy to sing along and practice pronunciation, while the clever wordplay provides a deeper look into the creative and political soul of Latin American music.

[English]

Raise the curtain, open the drapes

Fire up the turbines with nitroglycerin

Chaos is your penicillin

Jumping over pain without aspirin

Let’s cause a short circuit

Before a meteorite hits in 2012

To misbehave, to commit crimes

To eat Little Red Riding Hood with the Three Little Pigs

This isn’t about rebellion

It’s about being undisciplined for a day

The misunderstood ones of the New Testament

We’ve got our rules, our own commandments

Since they don’t get our behavior

We give all the psychologists a taste of their own medicine

To break the repetitive routine

Let the sun rise at night and rain fall upward

They want to control us like a remote

But authority can’t handle us

We love chaos (uo-uo-uoh!)

We break the rules (uo-uo-uoh!)

We’re undisciplined (uo-uo-uoh!)

All the troublemakers (uo-uo-uoh!)

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

We love chaos (uo-uo-uoh!)

We break the rules (uo-uo-uoh!)

We’re undisciplined (uo-uo-uoh!)

All the troublemakers (uo-uo-uoh!)

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

Hey, today we’re here to misbehave (misbehave)

Like a kid with a slingshot (misbehave)

Like a bride at a bachelorette party

Let’s misbehave (misbehave), but with dignity

Let’s make Susan Boyle lose her virginity

We’re different, nothing like what’s expected

Like an orange that tastes like a pear

We’re not clones, we’re not imitations

Today we’re here to do what we’re not supposed to

Tell a story without a plot

Turn the sky upside down

Like Arabs writing backward

(They walk with their hands, wave with their feet)

Start the day with your left foot

Raise your beer, let’s toast to anarchy

Mama’s boy, fly without a roof

Defend your right to do what you haven’t done

We love chaos (uo-uo-uoh!)

We break the rules (uo-uo-uoh!)

We’re undisciplined (uo-uo-uoh!)

All the troublemakers (uo-uo-uoh!)

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

We love chaos (uo-uo-uoh!)

We break the rules (uo-uo-uoh!)

We’re undisciplined (uo-uo-uoh!)

All the troublemakers (uo-uo-uoh!)

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

Let’s misbehave

Like when someone points a gun at you

Everyone put your hands up on your own

(Like if someone pointed a gun at you

Like if someone pointed

Raise your hand!

Like if someone pointed a gun at you

Like if someone pointed

Raise your hand!)

[Spanish]

Suban el telón, abran las cortinas

Enciendan las turbinas con nitroglicerina

El desorden es tu penicilina

Brincando curas los dolores sin aspirina

Vamos a provocar un cortocircuito

Antes de que en el 2012 caiga un meteorito

A portarnos mal, a cometer delitos

A comernos a Caperucita con los tres cerditos

Esto no se trata de rebeldía

Esto se trata de ser indisciplinado por un día

Los incomprendidos del nuevo testamento

Tenemos nuestras reglas, nuestro propio' mandamiento'

Como no comprenden nuestro comportamiento

A todos los psicólogos les damos tratamiento

Pa romper con la rutina repetitiva

Que el sol salga de noche y que llueva para arriba

Nos quieren controlar, como a control remoto

Pero la autoridad, no puede con nosotros

Nos gusta el desorden (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Rompemos con las reglas (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Somos indisciplinados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Todos los malcriados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Nos gusta el desorden (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Rompemos con las reglas (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Somos indisciplinados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Todos los malcriados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Oye, hoy vinimos a portarnos mal (mal)

Como un niño con su resortera (mal)

Como novia en despedida de soltera

Vamo' a portarnos (mal), pero con dignidad

Vamo' a hacer que Susan Boyle pierda su virginidad

Somos diferentes, nada de lo que se espera

Como una naranja con sabor a pera

No somos clones, no somos imitaciones

Hoy vinimos a hacer lo que no se supone

Contar un cuento sin narrativa

Tirar el cielo patas pa arriba

Como los árabes que escriben al revés

(Caminan con las manos, saludan con los pies)

Con el pie izquierdo empieza el día

Levanta tu cerveza, a brindar por la anarquía

Mama huevaso, vuela sin techo

Defiende tu derecho de hacer lo que no haz hecho

Nos gusta el desorden (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Rompemos con las reglas (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Somos indisciplinados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Todos los malcriados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Nos gusta el desorden (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Rompemos con las reglas (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Somos indisciplinados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Todos los malcriados (¡uo-uo-uoh!)

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Vamo' a portarnos mal

Como cuando te apuntan con una pistola

La gente con las manos arriba que suban solas

(Como si te apuntarán con una pistola

Como si te apuntarán

¡Sube la mano!

Como si te apuntarán con una pistola

Como si te apuntarán

¡Sube la mano!)

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
portarnos /porˈtaɾnos/ A2	verb - to behave (reflexive of 'portar')
desorden /desorˈden/ A2	noun - disorder, mess
indisciplinado /indiskipliˈnaðo/ B1	adjective - undisciplined
provocar /pɾoβoˈkaɾ/ B1	verb - to provoke, cause
cortocircuito /kortoˈsiɾkuito/ B2	noun - short circuit
meteorito /meteoˈɾito/ B1	noun - meteorite
delito /deˈlito/ A2	noun - crime, offense
rebeldía /reβelˈdi.a/ B1	noun - rebellion
mandamiento /mandoˈmiento/ B1	noun - commandment
tratamiento /tɾataˈmiento/ B1	noun - treatment
rutina /ruˈtina/ A2	noun - routine
autoridad /autoriˈdad/ A2	noun - authority
anarquía /anˈarki.a/ B2	noun - anarchy
narrativa /na.ra.ˈti.βa/ B2	noun - narrative
brindar /bɾinˈðar/ A2	verb - to toast

Key Grammar Structures

• [translate:Suban el telón, abran las cortinas]

  ➔ Imperative mood (formal plural command)

  ➔ "Suban" and "abran" are third person plural commands addressed to an audience, urging them to raise and open something.

• [translate:Brincando curas los dolores sin aspirina]

  ➔ Gerund + present tense indicative

  ➔ "Brincando" means "by jumping" or "while jumping" — it shows simultaneous action with "curas" (you heal).

• [translate:Vamos a provocar un cortocircuito]

  ➔ Ir a + infinitive (periphrastic future)

  ➔ The phrase "vamos a provocar" literally means "we are going to cause," expressing intention or a near-future plan.

• [translate:A comernos a Caperucita con los tres cerditos]

  ➔ Infinitive with pronoun attached (reflexive pronoun + infinitive)

  ➔ The reflexive pronoun "nos" attaches to "comer" forming "comernos", meaning "to eat ourselves/something" in a figurative sense.

• [translate:Esto no se trata de rebeldía]

  ➔ Reflexive impersonal construction

  ➔ "Se trata de" is an impersonal phrase meaning "it is about"; it doesn’t refer to a specific subject.

• [translate:Nos quieren controlar, como a control remoto]

  ➔ Direct object pronoun before infinitive

  ➔ In "nos quieren controlar", the pronoun "nos" (us) appears before the conjugated verb "quieren", not after the infinitive.

• [translate:Que el sol salga de noche y que llueva para arriba]

  ➔ Subjunctive mood to express unreal or impossible events

  ➔ The verbs "salga" and "llueva" are in the subjunctive, expressing an impossible inversion of nature.

• [translate:Como cuando te apuntan con una pistola]

  ➔ Simile using 'como' + indicative clause

  ➔ The phrase sets up a comparison between behavior and a real situation using indicative verbs ("te apuntan").