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.
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
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
Tex Ritter, a legendary American country music singer, is credited with pioneering the La Cucaracha song in October 1963.
Yes, taken from the Spanish language, Cucaracha means cockroach.
The word La Cucaracha has Spanish origins and means "The Cockroach."
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