La Cucaracha

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For other uses, see La Cucaracha (disambiguation).
A contemporary corrido song sheet of La cucaracha issued during the Mexican Revolution. Note the original lyrics and the reference to cartoncitos, which were a type of scrip issued as pay.
A contemporary corrido song sheet of La cucaracha issued during the Mexican Revolution. Note the original lyrics and the reference to cartoncitos, which were a type of scrip issued as pay.

"La Cucaracha" ("The Cockroach") is a traditional Spanish language folk song of the genre known as a corrido, that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The ultimate origin of "La Cucaracha" is unsettled, but it gained its greatest popularity during the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century. However, the song is mentioned in 1883, and possibly as early as 1818. Although it is speculated that it may be of Spanish origin, there is no reliable source for this, nor does the song appear in any other Latin American country.

[edit] Lyrics

The lyrics consist of independent verses, often improvised. It is similar to Yankee Doodle, The Burning of the School or On Top of Old Smoky. One typical and most familiar verse is as follows:

La cucaracha, la cucaracha
Ya no puede caminar
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
marihuana que fumar

English

The cockroach, the cockroach
Can't walk anymore
Because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
marijuana to smoke

The reference to marijuana arose during a period of time---approximately the time of the Mexican Revolution---when the word cucaracha was also a slang term for marijuana or a marijuana cigarette stub (hence the term "roach" in American slang).

Another example:

La cucaracha, la cucaracha
Ya no puede caminar
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
La patita principal.

English

The cockroach, the cockroach
Can't walk anymore
Because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
The front leg

In contexts where the mention of marijuana would be unsuitable, limonada que tomar ("lemonade to drink") or las patitas de atrás' ("its hind legs") are frequently substituted for the last line. This preserves both story and, in the Spanish version, meter.

Cuando uno quiere a una (When a man loves a woman)
Y esta una no lo quiere, (but she doesn't love him back)
Es lo mismo como si un calvo (it's like a bald man)
En calle encuentre un peine. (finding a comb in the street)
Mi vecina de enfrente (my neighbor across the street)
Se llamaba Doña Clara, (used to call herself Doña Clara)
Y si no hubiera muerto (and if she hasn't died)
Así se llamaría. (That's what she would call herself)

During the Mexican Revolution, rebel and government forces alike invented political lyrics. In some versions, the cockroach is President Victoriano Huerta, who was a notorious drunk, and considered a villain and traitor due to his part in the death of revolutionary President Francisco Madero. They may include lines like:

En el norte vive Villa
En el sur vive Zapata
Lo que quiero es venganza
Por la muerte de Madero

(English)

In the north lives Villa,
In the south lives Zapata
What I want is revenge
For the death of Madero

In Francisco Rodríguez Marín's book "Cantos populares españoles", published in 1883, he records several verses that deal with the Reconquista wars against the Moors in Spain:

De las patillas de un moro
tengo que hacer una escoba,
para barrar el cuartel
la infantería española.

(English)

From the sideburns of a Moor
I must make a broom
to sweep the quarters
of the Spanish infantry

[edit] Meaning of La Cucaracha

It has long been believed that la cucaracha has its origins in the great Mexican cockroach scare of 1827. According to local legend, Marijuana was believed to have negative effects towards cockroaches, and its use among the vermin was encouraged by the inhabitants of small villages.

[edit] Some of the performers of the song

[edit] External links