La Cucaracha

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La Cucaracha ("The Cockroach") is a popular Mexican folk song about a cockroach who cannot walk. The song's origins are unclear,^[1] but it dates back at least to the 1910s during the Mexican Revolution.^[1] The song belongs to the Mexican corrido genre.^[1] The song's melody is widely known^[1] and many alternative stanzas exist.^[1]

Structure[]

The song consists of verse-and-refrain (strophe-antistrophe) pairs, with each half of each pair consisting of four lines featuring an ABCB rhyme scheme.

Refrain[]

The song's earliest lyrics, from which its name is derived, concern a cockroach that has lost one of its six legs and struggles to walk with the remaining five. The cockroach's uneven, five-legged gait is imitated by the song's original,

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.— ^{[nb 1]}

("The cockroach, the cockroach / can no longer walk / because she doesn't have, because she lacks / the two hind legs to walk"; these lyrics form the basis for the refrain of most later versions. Syllables having primary stress are in boldface; syllables having secondary stress are in roman type; unstressed syllables are in italics. Measure divisions are independent of text line breaks and are indicated by vertical bar lines; note that the refrain begins with an anacrusis/"pickup.")

Many later versions of the song, especially those whose lyrics do not mention the cockroach's missing leg(s), extend the last syllable of each line to fit the more familiar 6/4 meter. Almost all modern versions, however, use a 4/4 meter instead with a clave rhythm to give the feeling of three pulses.

Verses[]

The song's verses fit a traditional melody separate from that of the refrain but sharing the refrain's meter (either 5/4, 6/4, or 4/4 clave as discussed above). In other respects, they are highly variable, usually providing satirical commentary on contemporary political or social problems or disputes.

Historical evolution[]

The origins of "La Cucaracha" are obscure.^[1] The refrain's lyrics make no explicit reference to historical events; it is difficult, if not impossible, therefore, to date. Because verses are improvised according to the needs of the moment,^[2] however, they often enable a rough estimate of their age by mentioning contemporary social or political conditions (thus narrowing a version's possible time of origin to periods in which those conditions prevailed) or referring to specific current or past events (thus setting a maximum boundary for a version's age).

Pre-Revolution lyrics[]

There exist several early (pre-Revolution) sets of lyrics referring to historical events.

Francisco Rodríguez Marín records in his book Cantos Populares Españoles (1883) several verses dealing with the Reconquista, which was completed in 1492 when the Moors surrendered the Alhambra to Spain:

Spanish De las patillas de un moro tengo que hacer una escoba, para barrer el cuartel de la infantería española.[3]	English From the sideburns of a Moor I must make a broom, to sweep the quarters of the Spanish infantry.

Some early versions of the lyrics discuss events that took place during the conclusion of the Granada War in 1492.^[3]

One of the earliest written references to the song appears in Mexican writer and political journalist José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi's 1819 novel La Quijotita y su Prima, where it is suggested that:

Spanish Un capitán de marina que vino en una fragata entre varios sonecitos trajo el de "La Cucaracha".[4]	English A naval captain who came in a frigate among various tunes brought the one about "La Cucaracha".

Other early stanzas detail such incidents as the Carlist Wars (1833–1876) in Spain and the French intervention in Mexico (1861).^[5]

During the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century, "La Cucaracha" saw the first major period of verse production as rebel and government forces alike invented political lyrics for the song. Many stanzas were added during this period that today it is associated mostly with Mexico.^[2]

Revolutionary lyrics[]

The Mexican Revolution, from 1910 to about 1920, 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^[2] are the two Villist anti-Huerta^[5] stanzas:

Spanish La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar porque no tiene, porque le falta marihuana que fumar.   Ya murió la cucaracha ya la llevan a enterrar entre cuatro zopilotes y un ratón de sacristán.	English 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.

This version, popular among Villist soldiers, contains hidden political meanings, as is common for revolutionary songs. 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 Ya se van los carrancistas, ya se van haciendo bola, ya los chacales huertistas se los trayen de la cola.	English And the Carrancistas, are on full retreat, and the Huertistan jackals have them caught by the tail.

An example of two Zapatist stanzas:

Spanish Oigan con gusto estos versos escuchen con atención, ya la pobre cucaracha no consigue ni un tostón.   Todo se ha puesto muy caro con esta Revolución, venden la leche por onzas y por gramos el carbón.	English Hear with pleasure these verses, listen carefully: now the poor cockroach doesn't even get a tostón (a 50 centavo or cent coin)   Everything has been very expensive in this Revolution, selling milk by the ounce 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 El que persevera alcanza dice un dicho verdadero yo lo que quiero es venganza por la muerte de Madero.   Todos se pelean la silla que les deja mucha plata En el norte vive Villa en el sur vive Zapata.	English The one who perseveres, achieves Tells a true saying What I want is revenge For the death of Madero.   Everyone fights for the chair Which gives them much money In the north lives Villa, In the south lives Zapata.

La Cucaracha as a female[]

Soldiering has been a life experience for women in Mexico since pre-Columbian times. Among the nicknames for women warriors and camp followers were Soldaderas, Adelitas, Juanas, and Cucarachas.^[6]

Soldiers in Porfirio Diaz's army sang "La cucaracha" about a soldadera who wanted money to go to the bullfights. For the Villistas, "'La cucaracha' wanted money for alcohol and marijuana. She was often so drunk or stoned that she could not walk straight," writes Elizabeth Salas in Mexican Military: Myth and History. "Unlike corridos about male revolutionaries like Villa and Zapata, none of the well-known corridos about soldaderas give their real names or are biographical. Consequently, there are very few stanzas that ring true about women in battle or the camps," Salas writes.

Male artists often depicted the soldaderas as semi-disrobed hookers. One etching, by muralist José Clemente Orozco, "The dance of the cucaracha”^[7] is especially insulting.

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 Cuando uno quiere a una y esta una no lo quiere, es lo mismo que si un calvo en la calle encuentra un peine. Mi vecina de enfrente se llamaba Doña Clara, y si no se hubiera muerto aún así se llamaría.	English 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.

	La Cucaracha (chorus) Menu 0:00 Performed by Sean Buss & Elisa
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Performers of the song[]

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Notes[]

References[]

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