The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #5841   Message #2340346
Posted By: GUEST,Q as guest
14-May-08 - 11:37 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: La Cucaracha
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: La Cucaracha
This very old song from Spain has accumulated myriad verses since it came to the New World.

Hadn't heard the two verses from New Mexico since I left Santa Fé many years ago.
The Las Vegas, of course, is Las Vegas, New Mexico, not that other place.

Porque - because
por qué - why? (interrogatively)
porqué - cause, reason (motive)
A troublesome word if accents and spacings are ignored. Por qué was always colloquially rendered as 'For why?' in northern New Mexico when English was being spoken.

amar - to love, to like, to fancy
amor- love, fancy, affection
para amar, toditos lados- not para amor as commonly written. Joe has it correctly.

Other verses from New Mexico (and also used elsewhere?), possibly from versions pre-Villa- from a manuscript by Charles F. Lummis.

Una cucaracha pinta
le dijo a una colorada,
Vamonos para mi tierra
a pasar la temporada.

Todas las muchachas tienen
en los ojos dos estrellas
pero las mejicanitas
de seguro son mas bellas.