Thursday, August 01, 2013

Viva la Fiesta

It's Fiesta time!  Ole! Here, in a clip from the 1935 short La Fiesta de Santa Barbara, are the Garland Sisters singing "La Cucaracha".



La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
ya no puede caminar
porque no tiene, porque le falta
marihuana que fumar.

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

Wait a minute...my mother was a Spanish major in college so she knew a number of Spanish language songs. I remember her singing this to me when I was a little girl. She definitely did not sing the marijuana line!

Her favorite song was Cielito Lindo. Here's a version with her favorite Luciano Pavarotti.


Ai ai ai ai.

2 comments:

Gary's third pottery blog said...

those lines: it is a CRAZY song!

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I've never heard those lines before!
I have seen and heard, however, my husband playing that tune using his b-cheeks as a bongo set. Video upon request. Ai ai ai ai!

Thanks for the Pavarotti. It nearly erased movie scene from my memory (in a very good way).