I've been giving Shakira's "Dónde Están Los Ladrones?" album some serious play the past couple of weeks. Every time I jump in the shower, I belt my heart and some frustration out. I'll profess my love to a guy one minute, singing that "my days are so dark, so long, so sad, my days without you" and then "if you leave me for that slut, don't ever come back because I won't be here" the next. Clearly, the translations are nowhere near the actual lyrics, which is why I wish you all knew Spanish so you could listen and understand the emotion that fill her songs.I first fell in love with pre-crossover Shakira in high school with "Ciega, Sordomuda" (meaning blind, deaf and dumb), a song detailing how she feels whenever she thinks about a guy she still loves, but has tried to forget time and time again with no luck. When I started driving, her CD would remain in the radio. I remember driving through the Cross Bronx Expressway, crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge and bearing through L.I.E. traffic with her voice blaring through my speakers as I sang along. Ten years later, I still rock out to that CD.
Lyrics | Shakira lyrics - Ciega, Sordomuda lyrics
Though I think her Spanish lyrics are much deeper than her English songs, I must admit, when "Hips Don't Lie" came out three years ago, I watched that video over and over just to learn those moves. And yes, my grad friends and I would try them out when we went clubbing. Those were fun times...
Do you have an album that's pretty much scratched (like mine) from all the times it's been played?
P.S. Though this post has been half-written for days, after unexpectedly attending a book reading at Bryant Park yesterday afternoon for Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Album That Changed Their Lives, I thought it was the perfect time to finish it off.
Image: coveralia.com