About this song

Gracias a la vida

By Violeta Parra

Updated

What “Gracias a la vida” means

The song reads as a broad gratitude hymn that turns ordinary human faculties into sources of wonder. It moves through the senses, memory, and feeling in a steady accumulation: sight lets the speaker distinguish darkness from light and see stars and loved ones; hearing gathers the world’s noise, from insects and birds to machines and rain, alongside the beloved’s tender voice; language gives the power to name what is loved and imagined. Each gift deepens the sense that life is not abstractly good, but richly perceivable, intelligible, and intimate. The repeated thanks create a prayer-like rhythm, linking these separate gifts into one expanding experience of being alive.

Play the song above for the full karaoke-synced lyrics with line-by-line translation in English.

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