"La Bala" by Calle 13, English translation of lyrics

[cairaguas]

"The Bullet"
Album: Entren Los Que Quieran (Enter Whoever Wants To), 2010
Style: Anti-war rock/rap
Country: Puerto Rico

Listen:

At YouTube here. Begins at 0:26. This is a song written about a bullet and its role in conflict. The album won "Album of the Year" in the 2011 Latin Grammy Awards.

[Expand embedded video]

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Translation:

Comments

[anonymous]

thanks for the translation...great song!

[cairaguas]

You're welcome. It is! Thanks for commenting. :-)

[anonymous]

Im confused about the "el que" which I usually take to mean "that which", in the seria inaccesible el que te mate

[cairaguas]

In this context, it just means "that" when you translate it to English. The "el" precedes the "que" to present the scenario (que alguien te mate, that/for someone to kill you).

Sería inaccesible el que alguien te mate
It would be inaccessible/impossible for someone to kill you

It can sound a bit strange because you tend to see this usage of "el que" more in writing than speech.