Song guide

Chan Chan

Buena Vista Social Club

Chan Chan by Buena Vista Social Club, line by line: what the lyrics mean, 20 expressions explained and 168 words translated with their grammar. Learn Spanish from the song, free.

Lyrics with English translation, line by line

Each line as sung, what it means, and — where it needs one — why it's said that way.

1. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

   From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

   Alto Cedro, Marcané, Cueto, and Mayarí are all real towns in the Holguín province of eastern Cuba (the Oriente region). The song traces a journey along the old railway line that connected these towns, evoking the landscape of the Cuban countryside.

2. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

   I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

3. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

   From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

4. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

   I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

5. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

   From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

6. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

   I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

7. El cariño que te tengo

   The affection that I have for you

   cariño is a warm, tender word for affection or fondness, softer than 'amor' (love). It is widely used across Latin America and Spain as a term of endearment and to describe the gentle love one feels for family, friends, or a romantic partner.

8. No te lo puedo negar

   I cannot deny it to you

9. Se me sale la babita

   A little drool escapes me

   babita is a diminutive of 'baba' (drool/saliva). The image of drooling uncontrollably at the sight of someone is a humorous, earthy Cuban way of expressing overwhelming desire or attraction — a playful, folk-poetic metaphor rather than a literal description.

10. Yo no lo puedo evitar

    I just can't help it

11. Cuando Juanica y Chan Chan

    When Juanica and Chan Chan

    Chan Chan and Juanica are the two central characters of the song, invented by composer Francisco Repilado (known as Compay Segundo). Chan Chan is the song's namesake and the protagonist of the story. The song was written around 1987 and became world-famous after appearing on the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997).

12. En el mar cernían arena

    Were sifting sand by the sea

13. Como sacudía el jibe

    How the sieve would shake

    jibe (also spelled 'jibe' or 'hibe' in Cuban Spanish) refers to a sieve or strainer used to sift sand or grain. The shaking motion of the jibe as Juanica works it is the source of Chan Chan's embarrassment — the song implies he is aroused watching her, a recurring theme of gentle, humorous desire in Cuban son music.

14. A Chan Chan le daba pena

    It made Chan Chan feel embarrassed

    pena in Cuban and Latin American Spanish can mean 'shame', 'embarrassment', or 'sorrow' depending on context. Here it carries the sense of bashful embarrassment — Chan Chan is flustered watching Juanica shake the sieve. In Spain, 'pena' more commonly means 'sorrow' or 'pity', so the Cuban usage here is regionally specific.

15. Limpia el camino de paja

    Clear the path of straw

16. Que yo me quiero sentar

    Because I want to sit down

17. En aquél tronco que veo

    On that log I see over there

18. Y así no puedo llegar

    And this way I cannot get there

19. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

    From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

20. Llegó a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

    He arrived at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

    This line uniquely uses 'Llegó' (preterite, 3rd person) instead of 'Llego' (present, 1st person) as in all other refrains. This is likely a performance variation by the singer, a common feature of the oral and improvisational tradition of Cuban son, where small changes in repeated sections add texture and spontaneity.

21. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

    From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

22. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

    I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

23. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

    From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

24. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

    I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

25. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

    From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

26. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

    I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

27. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

    From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

28. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

    I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

29. De Alto Cedro, voy para Marcané

    From Alto Cedro, I'm heading to Marcané

30. Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí

    I arrive at Cueto, I'm heading to Mayarí

Expressions and idioms in “ Chan Chan”

The lines that don't mean what the dictionary says.

voy para I'm heading to / I'm on my way to

ir + para + place name expresses movement toward a destination, with a sense of being en route. It is slightly more colloquial and directional than ir a, emphasising the journey rather than just the endpoint.

Llego a I arrive at

llegar governs the preposition a before a destination. English uses 'arrive at' or 'arrive in', but Spanish always uses llegar a regardless of whether the place is a city, building, or region.

te tengo I have for you / I feel toward you

The indirect object pronoun te appears before the conjugated verb tengo. In Spanish, indirect object pronouns are always placed before the finite verb (or attached to an infinitive/gerund), unlike English where 'for you' follows the verb.

el cariño que te tengo the affection I have for you

tener + indirect object pronoun (te) + noun expresses holding a feeling toward someone. The structure 'tener cariño a alguien' means 'to feel affection for someone'; here the object pronoun te replaces 'a ti', placed before the verb as is standard in Spanish.

No te lo puedo negar I cannot deny it to you

When poder + infinitive is used with two object pronouns (te = indirect, lo = direct), both pronouns stack before the conjugated verb. The order is always indirect before direct: te lo, never lo te. Alternatively they can attach to the infinitive: 'no puedo negártelo'.

puedo negar I can deny

poder + infinitive is the standard Spanish modal construction for 'can / to be able to'. The infinitive follows directly with no preposition, unlike some other modal-like verbs (e.g. tener que, ir a) which require a linking word.

Se me sale it escapes from me / it slips out on me

This is the 'involuntary or unplanned event' construction: se + indirect object pronoun (me = 'from me / on me') + verb. It signals that the action happens to the subject without their control or intention. Compare: 'se me olvidó' (I forgot, lit. it slipped from me) or 'se me cayó' (I dropped it). The real subject is 'la babita', not the speaker.

no lo puedo evitar I can't help it / I can't avoid it

poder + infinitive in the negative (no puedo + infinitive) expresses inability. The direct object pronoun lo refers back to the whole situation described in the previous line. This is a very common fixed-feeling phrase equivalent to English 'I can't help it'.

cernían arena were sifting sand

cernir (also spelled cerner) means 'to sift' or 'to strain'. The imperfect tense (cernían) here describes an ongoing, habitual action in the past — 'they were sifting' or 'they used to sift'. The imperfect is the standard tense for background scenes and repeated past actions in Spanish narrative.

Como sacudía How it would shake / How it shook

como used as an exclamatory adverb (not a question word) introduces an exclamation of degree or manner: 'how much it shook!' The imperfect sacudía paints a vivid, repeated scene. This exclamatory use of como is common in colloquial and poetic Spanish.

le daba pena it made him feel embarrassed / it caused him shame

dar pena is a fixed expression meaning 'to cause shame, embarrassment, or sadness'. The indirect object pronoun le indicates who experiences the feeling (Chan Chan). This construction — indirect object pronoun + dar + emotion noun — is the standard Spanish way to express feelings triggered by external events, parallel to 'me da miedo' (it scares me) or 'le da vergüenza' (it embarrasses him/her).

A Chan Chan le daba pena Chan Chan felt embarrassed / it made Chan Chan feel shame

The prepositional phrase 'a Chan Chan' at the start is the 'a personal' construction used to introduce the indirect object as a person. It doubles the le pronoun for clarity and emphasis — a common feature of Spanish that has no direct English equivalent.

Limpia el camino Clear the path

limpia is the affirmative tú imperative of limpiar. In Spanish, the tú imperative is formed by dropping the -s from the present tense second-person singular form (limpias → limpia). This is a direct command addressed to a single person informally.

camino de paja path of straw / straw-covered path

de + noun is the standard Spanish way to express what something is made of or covered with, where English would use a compound noun or adjective: 'straw path', 'path of straw'. No article is used after de in this type of material/content phrase.

Que yo me quiero sentar Because I want to sit down

que at the start of this line functions as a causal conjunction meaning 'because', not 'that'. This causal que is very common in colloquial and song Spanish, often appearing without an explicit main clause — the reason is simply stated as a justification for the command in the previous line.

me quiero sentar I want to sit down

querer + infinitive means 'to want to do something'. Here the reflexive verb sentarse (to sit down) is used; the reflexive pronoun me is pulled forward and placed before the conjugated quiero rather than attached to the infinitive. Both 'me quiero sentar' and 'quiero sentarme' are equally correct.

aquél tronco que veo that log I see / that log over there that I can see

aquél (with accent, now optional in modern Spanish) is the distal demonstrative adjective, pointing to something far from both speaker and listener — 'that one over there', more distant than 'ese' (that, near the listener). The relative clause 'que veo' (that I see) follows directly with no comma, as is standard in Spanish restrictive relative clauses.

así no puedo llegar this way I cannot get there / like this I can't arrive

así functions as an adverb of manner meaning 'this way / like this / in this state'. Placed at the start of the clause it sets the condition under which the inability applies. The construction así + no puedo + infinitive is a natural way to say 'under these circumstances I cannot...'

no puedo llegar I cannot get there / I am unable to arrive

poder + infinitive in the negative expresses inability. llegar here means not just 'to arrive' but 'to get there / to reach the destination', a common extended meaning of llegar in context.

Llegó a Cueto He arrived at Cueto

Line 19 uses llegó (preterite, 3rd person singular) instead of the llego (present, 1st person) used in all other refrains. This subtle shift from first to third person and from present to preterite may reflect a performer's variation or a narrative perspective shift — a common feature of Cuban son and oral tradition.

Vocabulary to learn from “ Chan Chan”

The words the song uses most.

• ir I go / I am going verb ·18
• llegar I arrive verb ·10
• alto high / tall adjective ·9
• el cedro cedar noun ·9
• poder I can / I am able verb ·3
• el cariño affection / fondness noun
• tener I have verb
• negar to deny verb
• salir comes out / escapes verb
• la babita little drool / little bit of drool noun
• evitar to avoid / to prevent verb
• el mar sea noun

Verbs in the song, and the form being sung

Present tense for each; the highlighted row is the one you'll hear.

Grammar you'll meet in this song

• Present33
• Imperfect3
• Imperative1
• Preterite1

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