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Home » Nursery Rhymes

Published: Jan 30, 2023 by Birute Efe · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

La Cucaracha Printable Lyrics, Origins, and Video

If you've heard La Cucaracha, you must have had a good laugh! This Mexican folk song talks about a cockroach that cannot walk anymore because it has lost its legs. It gets even more humorous in the following stanzas. La Cucaracha narrates the story of a heartbroken boy, a neighbor called Lady Claire, and a swimmer who was stung by a cockroach!

But did you know this poem didn't have such happy beginnings? This song of revolution and mutiny became popular during the Mexican revolution of 1910. It has a long origin history!

Read on to learn about its extensive history and how it has evolved to resemble what it looks like now. 

Jump to:
  • Written lyrics
  • Printable lyrics
  • Photo lyrics
  • Video links
  • Origins and history
  • FAQ

Written lyrics

The lyrics to the current version of La Cucaracha go something like this:

La cucaracha, la cucaracha

Ya no puede caminar

Porque no tiene, porque le falta

Una pata para andar

Una cucaracha grande

Se pasea en la cocina

Y la chancla de mi madre

Le ha quitado una patita

La cucaracha, la cucaracha

Ya no puede caminar

Porque no tiene, porque le falta

Una pata para andar

Esta coja cucaracha

Nunca se da por vencida

Y aunque le falte una pata

Baila siempre en la cocina

Tiene tanta mala pata

Esta pobre señorita

Que mi padre con su chancla

Le ha quitado otra patita

La cucaracha, la cucaracha

Ya no puede caminar

Porque no tiene, porque le falta

Las dos patitas de atrás

Enfadada y muy molesta

Llamó a todas sus amigas

"Ay, pronto haremos una fiesta

En medio de la cocina"

La cucaracha, la cucaracha

Ya no puede caminar

Porque no tiene, porque le falta

Las dos patitas de atrás

Las cucarachas, las cucarachas

Nunca paran de bailar

Aunque no tengan, aunque les falten

Las dos patitas de atrás

Se acabó

Printable lyrics

Print out this fantastic poem for you or your children's room. Download your copy here. 

Photo lyrics

La Cucaracha lyrics

Video links

Unsure about the pronunciation or want to familiarise your children with it? Watch the following video now!

Origins and history

La Cucaracha tells the story of a cockroach that cannot walk anymore because it has lost its legs. The earliest recorded version of the poem, from where the name is derived, talks about how this six-legged creature lost one of its legs and had a five-legged gait. It used to go like this:

La cu-ca- | ra-cha, la cu-ca-ra-cha

| ya no pue-de ca-mi-nar

por-que no | tie-ne, por-que le fal-tan

| las dos pa- titas "de" a-trás.

The modern versions replaced these verses with the more commonly followed style of 6/4 meter length. They usually omit the part of the cockroach's missing leg(s). 

The origins of La Cucaracha are vague since the lyrics do not reference a particular event or place. It also makes it difficult to put a date to the song. However, we can determine a rough estimate of its age through political and social situations. 

It was pretty vaguely referenced in the pre-revolution lyrics by Francisco Rodríguez Marín in the book Cantos Populares Españoles (1883). The lyrics were:

From the sideburns of a Moor

I must make a broom,

to sweep the quarters

of the Spanish infantry.

The first reference to the "La Cucaracha" was in La Quijotita y su Prima, a novel by political journalist José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi. It went like this:

A naval captain

who came in a frigate

among various tunes

brought the one about "La Cucaracha."

But it was only during the Mexican Revolution, from 1910 to 1920, that the majority of lyrics were jolted down. The verses talked about political symbolism and war and referenced the cockroach as President Victoriano Huerta, a figure responsible for killing revolutionary leader President Francisco Madero.

The cockroach, the cockroach,

can't walk anymore

because it doesn't have, because it's lacking

marijuana to smoke.

The cockroach just died

they are taking it to be buried,

among four buzzards

and a sacristan mouse.

Women made up most of the Mexican army and were referred to as Adelitas, Soldaderas, and Cucarachas. These soldiers used to sing La Cucaracha, telling a story about a soldadera who wanted to earn money to buy alcohol and marijuana. She used to get so drunk that she could no longer walk properly. 

Apart from these verses, the origins of other modern/adapted ones are entirely unknown and cannot be traced back to one person/author. Examples of such poems include:

When a man loves a woman

but she doesn't love him back,

it's like a bald man

finding a comb in the street.

My neighbor across the street

was called Doña Clara, [English: Mrs. Clara]

and if she hadn't died

that's what she would still be called.

FAQ

Who originally sang La Cucaracha?

Tex Ritter, a legendary American country music singer, is credited with pioneering the La Cucaracha song in October 1963.

Does Cucaracha mean cockroach?

Yes, taken from the Spanish language, Cucaracha means cockroach.

What does the word La Cucaracha mean?

The word La Cucaracha has Spanish origins and means "The Cockroach."

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