La Culpa [English translation]

Who invented money isn't to blame.

Nor the poor Chinese man who invented gunpowder,

Nor ancient Greek wisdom,

Nor the carpenter of that famous cross.

Nor even the stray bullet,

Nor the worms in rotten crops.

An orphan will blame the wind if she has no parents,

Dreams won't grow where you pose for a picture.

Dreams will never grow.

Paper's not to blame for what's written on it.

Nor the instrument for the chords it makes.

Nor the seams that make your clothes look elegant

a thick baton that hangs from a uniform.

Nor the rubble, for dilapidating.

Nor watches, for time marching on.

If tears fall like rain, 1

If it all comes to nothing.

It hurts me so much,

When the blame,

Oh, the blame, the cursed blame,

is no one's.

Oh, the blame, the cursed blame,

is no one's.

How is it that no one's to blame?

Even fortune tellers have better foresight than that.

Even people doing improv have better monologues than that.

It's better to have tried and to have failed.

than to simply blaspheme, but never try.

Trying to get what you want through faceless guilt.

Getting sick thinking over and over again about being rejected.

I played some chords, and this rumba was made

An illusion like a lantern in the gloom.

I want to feel guilty for dancing the impossible dance.

My grandparents instilled this in me when I was a child.

They made me ashamed to explode with passion when I get up

to be a coward disguised as tolerant.

Blame courage, blame being valiant.

Innocent people applaud the latter.

If tears fall like rain,

If it all comes to nothing.

What pisses me off,

What insults me

... is that the blame

The damn blame

is no one's.

{The guides of Guaguancó}

Too many generals, too few soldiers.

All that glitters isn't gold. 2

If you're always an angel, you'll never get a ticket. 3

A big dog can die from a flea.

The report never tells what the people in the street scream.

History buries those who are slain the country.

Who's to blame? Damn it! No one's to blame!

Who's to blame? Damn it! No one's to blame!

How is it that no one's to blame?

How is it that no one's to blame?

To blame.

To blame.

1. lit: "if crying runs" 2. "A golden tooth has no root" 3. If you don't scratch respect, the fine won't sting so bad"