¿Oye, cómo va?

Question

From the song - "Oye Como Va" what is the English translation?

Thank you.

Answer 1

a todos:

Taken out of the context of Santana's song, "¡Oye! ¿Cómo va?" might be interpreted to mean "Hey! How's it giong?" But, taken in the context of the surrounding words, I have to agree with Gekkosan that as used in the song, it means "Listen how the beat (or rythm) goes."

Here are the first two lines of the song:
"Oye como va mi ritmo
Bueno pa' gozar, mulata"

In the context of the song, "Hey! How's it going." doesn't work. Notice also that in the written lyrics, there is no tilde in "como" suggesting it is not used in the interrogative sense. If it were a question, it would be written "cómo." As gekkosan suggested, "Listen how the beat (or rythm) goes." works with the song.

Interestingly, see this performance by Celia Cruz ----> Celia Cruz - Oye como va

Some may say "Listen how the beat goes" is not good grammar. Erlaichda (erlaichda means 'lighten up' in an unknown tongue) , it's a song, poetry if you want, it transmits or transfers an emotion, not necessarily good grammar.

Muchos saludos/Best regards,

Moe

Couldn't have said it better. :-) - Gekkosan, May 8, 2010

Answer 2

I think the literal translation is something along the lines of "Hey, hows it going?" but Im not completely sure. I hope that helps some

Answer 3

Maybe it's "Listen to how it happens/goes..." which for musicians is important.

Answer 4

I disagree with the "how's it going" theories. I understand that the "Oye" is related to the next line of the song.

Answer 5

I agree with Katie.

It's along the lines of "Hey, how's it going?"

Answer 6

Check out thisthread. This is probably one of the most asked questions on the forum.