Writing in English was a major challenge. I didn't want other songwriters to write for me. I wanted to preserve the spirit of my songs in Spanish. I am the same Shakira in English as I am in Spanish.
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A Dream I Have To Write
A dream
I have to write
On the wooden slate
Of a child
Playing traunt from the school.
A moon
I have to write
On the forehead
Of a woman
Swarthier than evetide darkness.
A song
I have to write
On the frozen lips
of the wind
Passing through
A bamboo forest.
A name
I have to write
On an unmarked
Grave stone
In a memorial cemetry.
(Translated from Urdu to English by Dr. Satyapal Anand and from English to Spanish by Dr. Teresinka Pereira)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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Pop Singer
Never wanted to be no pop singer,
Never wanted to write no pop songs.
Never had no weird hair to get my songs over.
Never wanted to hang out after the show.
Pop singer (writing) of pop songs.
Never wanted to have my picture taken.
Now, who would want to look into these eyes?
Just want to make it real - good, bad or indifferent.
Thats the way that I live and thats the way that Ill die (as a)
Pop singer (of) pop songs.
Pop singer, writing of pop song.
Never wanted to be no pop singer,
Never want to write no pop songs.
Never wanted to have a manager over for dinner.
Never wanted to hang out after the show.
Pop singer, writing pop songs.
Never wanted to be no pop singer, of pop songs.
A pop singer.
Never wanted to write no pop songs.
song performed by by John Mellencamp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I must confess, my Spanish is not so good - except I read a little, so I started with the English but then determined that it would have to be in Spanish.
quote by George Crumb
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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One of my favorite poets, Neruda, writes close to the bone. Though I know only a little Spanish, I like to compare the Spanish and English lines and see how the translator worked.
quote by Anita Diament
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I have no idea why one of our most original filmmakers would want to spend two years of his life translating someone else's movie from Spanish into English. And it wasn't such a good film in Spanish, either.
quote by Joel Siegel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I think there are some songwriters who are just brilliant who can write and then I think there are some songwriters who can like me I have a problem writing chorus lyrics but I can write a song in a story like that.
quote by Charles King
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Pen In Hand
I have tried to analyse myself
and why I do the things, I do.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a policeman,
though I had the height,
I wasn’t that smart,
so as that idea went out the window
and no new ideas came along,
I decided to become a nobody
for what else could I be.
I was no good at English,
nor any good at maths,
I couldn’t even roller skate
as I kept falling down.
Everything I tried to do
I failed miserably,
so why did I take up writing,
it doesn’t make sense at all.
English was my worst subject,
so why would I want to write
I can’t think of any reason for it.
Then came the advent of the Beatles
and everyone wanted to be in a group.
I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t play
an instrument of any sort,
but Paul and John wrote songs,
and Paul had the same birthday as me.
Could it have been an omen?
I co-oped a friend into writing a song
with the immortal words
that if they can do it, why can’t we.
He agreed and millionaires
we were both going to be.
He gave up after our second attempt,
but for some reason I carried on.
Now forty-five years later
I am still trying to figure it out why
I would want to take pen in hand.
I guess it is something
I’ll never understand.
20 September 2008
poem by David Harris
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I had art as a major, along with English, French and History. I had dance, modern dance. In English I was allowed to write my own poetry, which I eventually got published.
quote by Sally Kirkland
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Have you any Spanish? (Meaning, Have you got any money?)
Writing Life Literary Programmes
my wishes
have already
come true
I got to personally
write a literary
programme for several
grade levels
and teach
an English
A literary
programme
creatively
with the best
school English students
for three years
I quietly got
to watch old Harris
run off to tell
principal
Graig Mowday
sometimes
several
times
a week
tell principal
the level
was too hard
aiming too high
attempting too much
doomed to fail
it was
but it was
my major
they were my students
it was not just English
skills but also life skills
I wanted to teach
and they not only
eventually achieved
average high grades
but a little of the finest
written English literature
embedded with life lessons
passed through their minds
now many are successful
at university
preparing to take
responsibility
for their own lives
their own futures
write their dreams
across interwoven webs
illuminating life purposes
unique their own lives
each worked so hard
gave so much
truly I was blessed
with privilege chance
to see their hopes
share their dreams fears
this was everything
everything I worked for
I lived my dreams
poem by Terence George Craddock
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I read the greens in Spanish, but putt in English.
quote by Chi Chi Rodriguez
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I had higher math SATs than in English - yet I became an English major in college.
quote by Christie Hefner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No Se Que Hacer Con Tigo (Spanish And English Versions)
No Se Que Hacer Con Tigo (Spanish And English Versions)
No se que hacer con tigo
La muerte no trai umbligo
No tengo nigun amigo
Que mas quieres que te digo
I Don't Know What To Do With You (English Version?
I don't know what to do with you
Death does not have a belly button
I don't have a single friend
What more do you want me to say to you
Edwin Tanguma (10/10/2011)
poem by Edwin Tanguma
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You see how Spanish, Italians, Portuguese play football. I don't say they are perfect, I say English football has a few things to learn from them in the same way they have a lot of things to learn from English football.
quote by Jose Mourinho
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To The R.A.F
Never since English ships went out
To singe the beard of Spain,
Or English sea-dogs hunted death
Along the Spanish Main,
Never since Drake and Raleigh won
Our freedom of the seas,
Have sons of Britain dared and done
More valiantly than these.
Whether at midnight or at noon,
Through mist or open sky,
Eagles of freedom, all our hearts
Are up with you on high;
While Britain's mighty ghosts look down
From realms beyond the sun
And whisper, as their record pales,
Their breathless, deep, Well Done!
poem by Alfred Noyes
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Let there be writing before you pay, and receipt before you write.
From smooth water God preserve me, from rough I will preserve myself.
Touch Of Class
oh well, i hear you
speak english to your dogs
spanish to the maids
and french to your business partners
on the phone,
you write your poems in german
your essays in portuguese
your menu posted on the ref in italian
cultured, educated, that is you
with a touch of class
but for one thing
now that you have fallen
drowning in the sea
oh gosh, you do not even
know how to swim!
let your language save you then.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Sometimes I feel I can't quite master my written and spoken Spanish, because I'm too much a student of English. I would need another lifetime to learn it.
quote by Sandra Cisneros
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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