American in Spain

Over the course of the World Cup 2010, I have seen increased traffic to my utterly useless page about Spanish soccer chants. So I have decided to write this page to actually inform the curious internet searchers about what those crazy Spanish soccer fans are on about.

A Por Ellos

This is by far the most common. “A por ellos!” means literally “Go get them!”. It’s the kind of thing that Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane might tell his deputies to do. Add some vowel sounds like OH and AY on the end, and you have a song:

A por ellos, oo ee
A por ellos, oo ee
A por ellos, oo ee
A por ellos, ee oo ee

Podemos

The second is an exclamation, “¡Podemos!“, which literally means “We can!” This was used very widely during the Euro Cup 2008, which Spain won. It’s a blatant rip off of Obama’s campaign slogan, “Yes we can!”, which is a blatant rip off of Cesar Chavez’s slogan, “Sí, se puede!” (Yes, it can be done), used in civil rights protests for the United Farm Workers union in the 1970′s.

Alcohol Alcohol Alcohol

This is less of a soccer chant and more of a drunken party chant, but I assure you it will be sung in the Spanish sections of exciting soccer matches. Because the letter H is silent in Spanish, the word “alcohol” often sounds like it just has two syllables. It goes like this:

Alcohol
Alcohol
Alcohol alcohol alcohol
Hemos venido a emborracharnos
Y el resultado nos da igual

In English, that’s:

Alcohol
Alcohol
Alcohol alcohol alcohol
We have come [here] to get drunk
And we don’t care about the result

Very mature, don’t you think?

Yo Soy Español Español Español

This one is pretty simple. It translates to “I am Spanish Spanish Spanish!”

Que Viva España

This one means “Long live Spain”. With some lo lo lo lo’s thrown in to make it more of a song.

If there are any Spanish soccer chants I’ve left out, please leave a comment.

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