Pau’s AT&T commercial

Paulina Rubio

 

 

This was an AT&T commercial on the Spanish television in the United States that we had to watch many times a day for months. My students at that time asked me to explain to them what this singer  was saying.

 

 

Pauliina Rubio singing Causa y Efecto, the song on the AT&T commercial. Spain version:

 

 

Here are the lyrics with an attempt at a literal translation:

 

Quieres gobernar mi corazón
mi silencio y mi respiración
piensas que ni en sueños
lograré vivir sin ti
te lo aviso no funciona así

Mientes y te crees tan especial
sueñas que me vuelves de cristal
corre más deprisa a kilometros de aquí
hoy decir adiós me toca a mí

Sabes que aunque te creías perfecto
por la ley de causa y efecto
hoy pagas por cada error
mira que mi amor te enciende y te enfría
como una ilusión que te espía
y te enreda por diversión

Cambia la estrategia por favor
que no me llevo bien con el dolor
creo en la energía que se mueve en espiral
y vivir en guerra me hace mal

Sabes que aunque te creías perfecto
por la ley de causa y efecto
hoy pagas por cada error
mira que mi amor te enciende y te enfría
como una ilusión que te espía
y te enreda por diversión

En este duelo de piel contra piel
giró la suerte y te toca perder

…que aunque te creías perfecto
por la ley de causa y efecto
hoy pagas por cada error
mira que mi amor te enciende y te enfría
como una ilusión que te espía
y te enreda por diversión

Sabes que aunque te creías perfecto
por la ley de causa y efecto
hoy pagas, hoy pagas, por cada, hoy pagas, por cada error

 

You want to rule my heart
my silence and my breathing
you think that not even in dreams
I will manage to live without you
I warn you it doesn’t work this way

You lie and you believe you are so special
you dream that you turn me into glass
run faster kilometers away from here
today it’s my turn to say goodbye

You know that although you believed you were perfect
because of the law of cause and effect
today you pay for each mistake
look that my love turns you on and cools you
like an illusion that spies on you
and tangles you up for fun

Change the strategy, please
because I don’t get along with pain
I believe in energy that moves in a spiral
and living in war makes me sick

You know that although you believed you were perfect
because of the law of cause and effect
today you pay for each mistake
look that my love turns you on and cools you
like an illusion that spies on you
and tangles you up for fun

In this duel of skin against skin
fortune turned around and it’s your turn to lose

…that although you believed you were perfect
because of the law of cause and effect
today you pay for each mistake
look that my love turns you up and chills you
like an illusion that spies on you
and tangles you up for fun

You know that although you believed you were perfect
because of the law of cause and effect
today you pay, today you pay, for each, today you pay, for each mistake

Key vocabulary and expressions:

ni = nor, not even
lograr + infinitive = to manage to + intinitive
así = like this, like that, this way

más deprisa = faster, (more in a hurry)
me toca = it’s my turn; te toca = it’s your turn
llevarse bien con = to get along with

hacer mal = to make sick
por = because of, for
girar = to turn around, to spin, to rotate

In the 1980s, I went with my family to Acapulco, a beach resort in Mexico. For a whole week every time my cousins and I went to the swimming pool at the Fiesta Americana Condesa hotel, Paulina was there also. We looked just like the children in the Spain video version, LOL. We were all playing ball or jumping in the pool. Every time a new kid joined us, she would tell him or her, “You don’t know who my mother is!, my mother is a famous actress!.” The first day we met her she told us the same thing.

 

 

Paulina Rubio’s music video, Vevo version. This clip has more than 30 million views.

 

This is her video with English lyrics, but they don’t correspond exactly to the Spanish version.

If you think about the law of cause and effect, the sphere device they use throughout the video makes perfect sense.

La Ley de Causa y Efecto / Law of Cause and Effect

Originally published on 20090901. Latest revision 20210405 (spanishNY.com) top

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