La Cucaracha

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.

"La Cucaracha" (Spanish: "The Cockroach") is a traditional Spanish folk corrido that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. It has additionally become a verse played on car horns.

Origins

The origins of "La Cucaracha" are obscure, with some versions of the lyrics discussing events that took place during the conclusion of the Granada War in 1492 (see section below). One of the earliest references to the song comes from the verses of Mexican writer and political journalist, José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi's 1819 novel, La Quijotita y su Prima where it is suggested that:

Spanish	English
Un capitán de marina	A naval captain
que vino en una fragata	who came in a frigate
entre varios sonecitos	among various tunes
trajo el de "La Cucaracha."	brought the one about "La Cucaracha."

Whatever its origin, it would be during the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century that "La Cucaracha" would see the first major period of verse production as rebel and government forces alike invented political lyrics for the song. So many stanzas were added during this period that today it is associated mostly with Mexico.

Lyrics

The lyrics consist of independent satirical verses fit to the traditional melody, and are often improvised to provide contemporary political or social commentary. In this way, "La Cucaracha" is similar to "Yankee Doodle," "The Burning of the School," or "On Top of Old Smoky." As lyrics are improvised according to the needs of the moment, they provide a rough chronology to the song.

Pre-Revolution lyrics

The most traditional Spanish version is as follows:

Spanish	English
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,	The cockroach, the cockroach,
ya no puede caminar	can't walk anymore
porque no tiene, porque le falta	because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
las dos patitas de atrás.	its two back feet.

Numerous "official" versions of the last line of this verse exist, including "Una pata par(a) andar. (A leg to walk.)" and "La patita principal. (The front leg.)." The stanza makes no explicit reference to historical events, and as such is more or less undatable; however, several early (pre-Revolution) lyrics exist that do record such events and as such it is possible to roughly approximate their ages. In Francisco Rodríguez Marín's book "Cantos Populares Españoles", for example, he records several verses that deal with the Reconquista wars (1492) against the Moors in Spain:

Spanish	English
De las patillas de un moro	From the sideburns of a Moor
tengo que hacer una escoba,	I must make a broom,
para barrer el cuartel	to sweep the quarters
la infantería española.	of the Spanish infantry.

Other early stanzas detail such incidents as the Carlist Wars (1833-1876) and the French intervention in Mexico (1861).

Revolutionary lyrics

The Mexican Revolution was a period of great political upheaval during which the majority of the stanzas known today were written. Political symbolism was a common theme in these verses, and explicit and implicit references were made to events of the war, major political figures, and the effects of the war on the civilians in general. Today, few pre-Revolution verses are known, and the most commonly quoted portion of the song is the two Villist anti-Huerta stanzas:

Spanish	English
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,	The cockroach, the cockroach,
ya no puede caminar	can't walk anymore
porque no tiene, porque le falta	because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
marihuana pa' fumar.	marijuana to smoke.
Ya murió la cucaracha	The cockroach just died
ya la llevan a enterrar	now they take her to be buried
entre cuatro zopilotes	among four buzzards
y un ratón de sacristán.	and a mouse as the sexton.

Common to Revolutionary songs, this version contains hidden political meanings, and was popular among Villist soldiers. In this version, the cockroach represents President Victoriano Huerta, a notorious drunk who was considered a villain and traitor due to his part in the death of revolutionary President Francisco Madero. Due to the multi-factional nature of the Mexican Revolution, competing versions were also common at the time, including the Huertist, anti-Carranza stanza:

Spanish	English
Ya se van los carrancistas,	And the Carrancistas,
ya se van haciendo bola,	are on full retreat,
ya los chacales huertistas	and the Huertistan jackals
se los trayen de la cola.	will catch and imprison them.

An example of two Zapatist stanzas:

Spanish	English
Oigan con gusto estos versos	Hear with pleasure these verses,
escuchen con atención,	listen carefully:
ya la pobre cucaracha	now the poor cockroach
no consigue ni un tostón.	doesn't even get a tostón.
Todo se ha puesto muy caro	Everything has been very expensive
con esta Revolución,	in this Revolution,
venden la leche por onzas	selling milk by the ounce
y por gramos el carbón.	and coal by the gram.

Among Mexican civilians at the time, "La Cucaracha" was also a popular tune, and there are numerous examples of non-aligned political verses. Many such verses were general complaints about the hardships created by the war, and these were often written by pro-Zapatistas. Other non-aligned verses contained references to multiple factions in a non-judgmental manner:

Spanish	English
En el norte vive Villa	In the north lives Villa,
en el sur vive Zapata	In the south lives Zapata
lo que quiero es venganza	What I want is revenge
por la muerte de Madero.	For the death of Madero.

Other verses

Apart from verses making explicit or implicit reference to historical events, hundreds of other verses exist. Some verses are new and others are ancient; however, the lack of references and the largely oral tradition of the song makes dating these verses difficult if not impossible. Examples follow:

Spanish	English
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 encuentra 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 hadn't died
así se llamaría.	that's what she would call herself.

Performers of the song

• Louis Armstrong (1935)
• Big Idea (2008) - featured in DDR Disney Channel Edition
• Charlie & The Jives
• Lila Downs (2004)
• The Gipsy Kings
• Speedy Gonzales
• The Gumm Sisters, featuring Judy Garland
• Bill Haley & His Comets (1966) - as "La Cucaracha a Go-Go"
• Big Walter Horton
• James Last (1967)
• Los Lobos
• Louis Prima
• Los Machucambos (1960s)
• Los Locos del Ritmo
• Mills Brothers
• Les Negresses Vertes
• The Baja Marimba Band
• Charlie Parker
• The Skatalites (1964) - as "Ska-Racha"
• Slowpoke Rodriguez
• Doug Sahm
• The Wiggles
• Zebda
• The Alley Hinges (2000) - "The Cucaracha Of Death"
• Kumbia Kings (2002)
• Orphei Drängar (2006) - "La Cucaracha arr. Robert Sund"
• Goin' Bulilit - Theme song to show
• Riders In The Sky
• La Pequena Compania
• Mr. Bungle - within their track "Hypocrites" from their first demo "The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny"

External links

• What are the words to "La Cucaracha"? on The Straight Dope
• Version with several references to the Mexican Revolution
• complete lyric
• Sheet Music for Wind Orchestra: Parts & Scores