Origins: Senor Don Gato

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,John G
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:52 PM

its amazing how many people love this song. indeed, I remember this as a second grader, and it still brings me goose bumps in my 40's. I always think of a certain girl in the class

thanks to google for allowing me to see that I am far from the only one who had this song stick in his head over all the years..

too bad we could not have a senor don gato reunion.....:)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,JimmyG
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 09:23 AM

My 3rd grade teacher put me on top of the filing cabinet with a sombrero and a shaker and I sang this song solo while sort of acting out the scenes.

Needless to say, I never forgot that. Now I am doing same at my son's b-day party. Glad i could find the chords and refresh the lyrics here.

That was Sharon, PA circa 1975

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,TBERKA
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 11:58 AM

Wow..I cannot believe how many people know this song.. We learned it in Grade 1 in Richmond, BC Canada back in the mid 60's! Anyone know which the CD it may be on...I remember it was on an album that had kid's songs from all over the world...

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Slainte Maith
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 10:02 AM

There's a 'grown up' band based in Charleston, SC called Sol Driven Train that plays a -very- good version of this song at their shows. If you've not seen 'em.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,THERESA /PENNSLYVANIA
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 02:30 PM

i am beyond amazed that there are so many other DON GATO fans. i learned this song over 30 years ago and shockingly i remember all of the words. people have thought i was nuts for always singing it but OH BOY what will they think now. maybe they will become DON GATO followers. lol

Subject: Estando el Senor Don Gato - Score & MIDI
From: Genie
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 03:19 PM

And thanks again to Masato for supplying this link:

Estando El Senor Don Gato - Score, lyrics, and MIDI

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Paula
Date: 13 Sep 07 - 02:36 AM

Wow, this is amazing. I learned this song in 3rd or 4th grade in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am 40 now.... just typed in the first few lines to the Web tonight to see if I could turn up the rest of the lyrics... what a great thread to have been kept going for so long! :-)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Jim from Milford, Connecticut
Date: 18 Oct 07 - 01:54 PM

Wow, an active 12 year old thread about Don Gato! I learned this in the extremely early 70's. Our school music teacher taught it to us accompaning herself on the autoharp. Like you folks, I never forgot it. Years later, when I was a school music teacher, I taught it to all the young kids by memory, and it was, by and large, the most popular song I ever taught. Viva Don Gato!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Ohio
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 10:21 AM

Unbelieveable-- I generally never post,
but I can't resist helping keep the thread alive. I was reading and saw the word gato, and my mind instantly added-- Meow, Meow, Meow--
I learned the song in the mid-seventies, (Cleveland, Ohio)grade-school
Haven't thought of it in years...
how odd to have it jogged today.....
Thank you google for the instant satisfaction of finding the lyrics and reading the above posts:)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Carol in Tennessee
Date: 01 Jan 08 - 07:46 PM

OMG.. I was singing this song to my daughter and couldn't remember all the words.. she thought it was morbid.

My elementary class learned this song in Avon, New York when I was in like 3rd or 4th grade. I haven't heard it in years! And my husband certainly had never even heard of it at all (grew up in the west).

Wow, what memories... the solar plexus part got me.. never knew what that was!

Anyway, didn't want the Senor Don Gato thread to die either!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Leah, Washington State
Date: 08 Jan 08 - 11:08 PM

I too remember singing this song in the 80's at Elementary School with our music teacher Mrs. Manwell. I Googled it to help teach it to my kids and not only found the words but they got to hear it.

Thanks to all of you and to the internet.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Michael, Northern CA
Date: 12 Jan 08 - 05:16 PM

I randomly started singing this tune while walking down the stairs this morning. I googled "Del Gato" just for kicks and to see if I could get the words for my kids. I learned it from Mrs Newhouse in 4th grade, 1967, at McCullough Elementary in Albuquerque, NM. Hadn't thought of it for decades. Glad to be able to keep this thread alive.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 03:39 AM

I truly believe this thread has drawn more people to Mudcat over the years than any other factor. Viva Don Gato!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Coral, Illinois
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 08:52 PM

I learned Don Gato in the mid seveties at Tri-City Elementary School in Buffalo, Illinois. I loved the song when I was a kid, but I could only remember the words to the first verse. I'm so happy to now know all of the words so I can teach the song to my kids.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Renessa from Cleve.Hts,Ohio
Date: 21 Jan 08 - 04:33 AM

Oh my goodness. I am always singing the first verse to this song. I learned this song in the eighties at Roxboro Elementary. I was singing it at work and decided to google the lyrics. I cannot believe that this thrad has continued for sooooo long.I love Don Gato!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,npenguino
Date: 29 Jan 08 - 10:33 PM

Just like everyone else - learned this song in elem school - long island new york - don't remember the school, teacher or grade - but i remember the song - couldn't remember past the fluffy white cat adoring don gato - so decided to google for the lyrics!!!! This was my favorite song - i used to sing this song all the time to anyone who would listen

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,roy
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 12:10 AM

anyone ever get a hold of a .wav or .mp3 or something with the lyrics and tune?

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Annie
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 08:58 PM

We use to sing this in elementary school in the 70's I grew up in NJ. I thought it was morbid then, and now! But it obviously stuck with me on some level because I google Don Gato and find there are zillions of us who remember him!

Are there still these songs in school? (I have no kids, so I dont really know)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Anne
Date: 06 Mar 08 - 10:14 AM

Learned this song in Pavilion, NY in early seventies from the batty Mrs. Thomas.

Check out these youtube clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2fzQ7rjNbk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA9xCWvfDQ8

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,The Toonerator
Date: 05 May 08 - 10:18 AM

I'm a cartoonist and I actually made a cartoon character based on this song, which I heard in some odds of the first grade... I actually wound up using the character again in a couple of unrelated cartoons including a Zorro parody...

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 05 May 08 - 12:48 PM

Where could we see them, Toonerator???

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 May 08 - 01:17 PM

Don Gato cartoons from Mexico (in Spanish) on Youtube. They use the tune "Top Cat" as a theme. It is the old cartoon film, "Top Cat," still available from Amazon, etc.
A DVD, Don Gato y su pandilla, the complete cartoon, can be downloaded at www.downloadprofessional.com. Search for titles.

A rather far cry from the original Don Gato.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Monique
Date: 04 Jul 08 - 04:44 AM

A site from the University of Chile gives several different versions of this song, some information about it and a bibliography. All in Spanish.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,neil
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 03:43 PM

I learned that song tody.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 05:59 PM

Many versions from all over the Hispanic area (Spain, Portugal, North Africa, and the Latin American countries)
are collected at the University of Washington, some with music, midi, etc.
http://depts.washington.edu/hisprom/

One from New Mexico:

DON GATO
Coll. A. M. Espinosa, before 1953.

Estaba señor don Gato en silla de oro sentado,
usando media de seda y zapatito picado.
Entró su compadre y dijo si quería ser casado
con una gata morisca que andaba por los tejados.
El gato, por verla pronto, Cayó del tejado abajo;
se ha quebrado dos costillas, se ha desconcertado un brazo.
¡Ea, ea, que vengan pronto médicos y cirujanos.
¡Y sobre tocó que venga, el señor doctor Don Carlos!
El doctor Don Carlos dijo, después de haberlo pulsado,
que maten una gallina y que le den buenos caldos.
--Si acaso yo me muriere, no me entierren en sagrado;
entiérrenme en campos verdes, donde me pise el ganado,
pa que digan los pastores: "Aquí murió el desdichado;
no murió de muerte fina ni de dolor, de costado,
murió de un dolor de amores que le dio desesperado."--
Otro dia por la mañana amaneció muerto el gato.
Los ratones, de alegría, se visiten de colorado;
las gatas se ponen luto, los gatos capotes largos,
y los gatitos chiquitos hacen: ¡Miao! ¡Miao!

Nota de Diaz Roig: "Sacado de un cuaderno de materiales recogidos por su padre".
(ficha no. 5150). Music not recorded.

http://depts.washington.edu/hisprom/optional/balladaction.php?igrh=0144

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Monique
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 06:42 PM

It's funny that this Don Gato thread "comes back from the dead" today. Someone's just sended me yet another version

Estaba el señor Don Gato
Sentadito en su tejado miarrau miau miau miau
Sentadito en su tejado
Quando le vinieron nuevas
Que había de ser casado miarrau miau miau miau
Que había de ser casado
Con una gatita parda
Con un pinta en el rabo miarrau miau miau miau
Con un pinta en el rabo
El gato de la alegría
Se ha caído del tejado miarrau miau miau miau
Se ha caído del tejado
Se ha roto siete costillas
Y la puntita del rabo
Le llevaron a enterrar
Por la calle del pescado
Al olor de las sardinas
Don Gato ha resucitado.

Nice version, Q! Do you have an idea about how old it can be ? (I ask because of the subjunctive future tense)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:30 PM

How old? The Spanish first settled in the area of New Mexico about 1580; by 1610, Santa Fe was the capital of a province. Settlers from Mexico and Spain continued to arrive until the 1920s.
How old? 'Tis a puzzlement.

The song is known from Spain, 19th c, but Sephardic survivals suggest it is much older. Sephardic Jews were kicked out of Spain in 1492, although some took the cross, but were kicked out as well in the 16th c. Sephardic collections are from N. Af., and Mediterranean areas, where they re-settled. But let's settle for about 1870 for the early date, since that is the earliest students are sure of "Don Gato" in Spain. Are Sephardic collections pre-diaspora, or did they just pick up a good song at a later date?

The Ladino version given by Joe (no location) is very similar. This surprises me, since Don Gato is well-known in Mexico, and I would expect that it came from there. Dr. Carlos is in the Sephardic version I posted from Tetuan, North Africa.
North Africa, New Mexico, and ? (Joe's).

Yep, 'tis a puzzlement (guess what old movie I was looking at yesterday).

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:53 PM

The large collection at Univ. Washington also has a Sephardic fragment from Marocco, with a brief musical score and streaming audio:

http://deprs.washington.edu/hisprom/ballads/bdgpidaction.php

I looked at the collection from Leon, but no Dr. Carlos.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 12:49 AM

From Un verano en bornos by Fernán Caballero, 1882.

Aquella á quien se habia pedido recitase la famosa relacion del gato, complacía á su noble auditorio en estos términos:

Estaba señor don gato
En silla de oro sentado,
Calzando media de seda
Y zapatito picado.
Llegó su compadre y dijo
Si quería ser casado
Con una gata morisca
Que andaba por los tejados.
El gato por verla pronto,
Cayó del tejado abajo:
Se ha rompido tres costillas,
Se ha descoyuntado un brazo;
Venga, venga presto el médico.
Sangrador y cirujano.
Y sobre todo que venga
El doctor señor Don Cárlos.
El señor Don Cárlos manda,
Despues de haberle pulsado,
Que maten á una gallina
Y que le den buenos caldos.
Al otro día de mañana
Amaneció muerto el gato:
Los ratones de alegría
Se visten de colorado;
Las gatas se ponen luto,
Los gatos capotes largos,
Y los gatitos chiquitos
Dicen miau, miau, miau.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Monique
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 04:50 AM

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 12:23 PM

Thanks, Jim.
In the New Mexico version, Don Gato broke two ribs, three in the 1882 text, but it is the same version, with Dr. Carlos. It is possible that this book reached the Spanish-speaking community in northern New Mexico.
This explanation does not seem likely, however, for the Sephardic versions, but I don't know how widely the stories in that book were circulated. Use of a German publisher could suggest a rather large readership.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,J. D. Roberson
Date: 18 May 09 - 02:39 PM

I am thrilled this thread is still going! It was over a decade ago when I first posted. Senor Don Gato is my hero!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 May 09 - 09:50 AM

Guest J D R:
Some threads (like some cats) just don't know when to die!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 May 09 - 01:36 PM

Old threads will never die,
Never die, never die;
Old threads will never die,
They just roll along.
-------------------------------

Adding a preceding verse to the 1882 text posted by Jim Dixon:

Entretanto las niñas proseguian en sus entretenimientos: unas bailaban, contándoles otras esta copla:

El el hospital del rey
Hay un raton con tercianas;
Y una gatita morisca
Le está encomendando el alma.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 10:13 AM

If you can't find the cassette, you can just go to youtube.com and save it to your favorites. then google the program that lets you convert youtube songs to mp3's then you can save it to CD or your mp3 player :)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 01:47 PM

?

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Mrs. Pena's Summer School Class
Date: 08 Jun 10 - 05:49 PM

We are learning it in summer school. All the students love it!
They wanted to know the origins and I came across this thread. Our students love it. Memorized it in 2 days and we're performing it for parents @ the end of June.
Thanks for all the info!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,Marcy Carroll
Date: 22 Jun 10 - 08:34 PM

Thank you for verifying to my children that I was not making up this song. I have sung bits and pieces to them for the last 20 years. As their mother they thought I was insane. Thanks for helping me to prove to them that I do not hear voices. May the song live on forever. I learned it in Duncan SC in the 70's.

Subject: ADD: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 10 - 10:54 PM

SEÑOR DON GATO
(English Version)
Written By: Unknown, Copyright Unknown

Oh Senor Don Gato was a cat
On a high red roof Don Gato sat
He went there to read a letter,
Meow, meow, meow
Where the reading light was better,
Meow, meow, meow
'Twas a love note for Don Gato

I adore you wrote the lady cat
Who was fluffy, white and nice and fat
There was not a sweeter kitty,
Meow, meow, meow
In the country or the city,
Meow, meow, meow
And she said she'd wed Don Gato

Oh, Don Gato jumped so happily
He fell off the roof and broke his knee
Broke his ribs and all his whiskers,
Meow, meow, meow
And his little solar plexus,
Meow, meow, meow
Ay Caramba cried Don Gato

Then the doctors all came on the run
Just to see if something could be done
And they held a consultation,
Meow, meow, meow
About how to save their patient,
Meow, meow, meow
How to save Senor Don Gato

But in spite of everything they tried
Poor Senor Don Gato up and died
And it wasn't very merry,
Meow, meow, meow
Going to the cemetery,
Meow, meow, meow
For the ending of Don Gato

When the funeral passed the market square
Such a smell of fish was in the air
Though his burial was slated,
Meow, meow, meow
He became reanimated,
Meow, meow, meow
He came back to life, Don Gato

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 02:03 PM

Similar to translation (re-creation?) posted by J. D. Robertson in 1998. Probably from a school text not yet identified.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,J.D. Roberson
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 04:25 PM

Our favorite feline now has a Wikipedia entry. Please forgive me if this is a re-post on the thread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Gato

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,J.D. Roberson
Date: 23 Mar 11 - 04:27 PM

Okay, let's try this again ....

Wikipedia: Senor Don Gato (song)

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 10:02 PM

Far up the thread I linked a discussion of the song by Dr. Elfidio Alonzo, the link is no longer good. Here is a new link.

Don Gato

There are several Spanish versions, from Spain, The Canaries, and the Americas. A Sephardic version also is known, age unknown.

----------------This thread has been closed due to persistent spamming. Contact Joe Offer if you need it opened. -------------

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Oct 21 - 01:29 PM

Here's an email from Monique -

The Don Gato thread is closed https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=162#807639 Would you mind adding this link somewhere since I can't have access to it?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330600106_Federico_Garcia_Lorca_as_Folklorist_the_Ibero-American_Romance_de_don_Gato/fulltext/5c49fea692851c22a38d6bd3/Federico-Garcia-Lorca-as-Folklorist-the-Ibero-American-Romance-de-don-Gato.pdf There's quite a collection of different versions in it -I'm presently working on a Galician version for MLW but it's not included in the pdf.

I'll reopen the thread and see if it's still a Spam magnet. It should be OK now, but maybe not.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Monique
Date: 02 Oct 21 - 02:13 PM

Thanks Joe!
Here are two Galician versions, there is another one.
Frank made a typo when he typed the Pan-Hispanic Ballad Project url on 2009/03/09, it's https://depts.washington.edu/hisprom/optional/balladaction.php?igrh=0144
(here) The page includes 72 versions.
Not all the links in the thread are still valid!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 02 Oct 21 - 10:33 PM

The Wikipedia article for "Señor Don Gato" credits
Margaret Marks with the singable English translation.
I always wondered whose English words I was singing
as I remember this from the classroom of my elementary school.

When I Google Margaret Marks's name,
I can discover nothing about the person.
However she seems to have written singable English translations
for many a popular tune with origins outside of English,
especially for Silver Burdett music books
for elementary school classrooms.

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,J. D. Roberson
Date: 11 Jan 23 - 06:52 PM

I'm just replying here to keep this thread going. It's amazing to see my original responses from 1998 on here. Still love this song!

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 12 Jan 23 - 07:06 AM

For anyone remembering learning this in school (UK 1960s) it appeared in 'Time and Tune' for the terms Autumn 1963 & Summer 1969.
As I have my collection digitised, copies of the relevant pages (and covers) can be downloaded Here

Cheers

Subject: RE: Origins: Senor Don Gato
From: GUEST,J. D. Roberson
Date: 05 Aug 24 - 12:57 PM

Just keeping the thread alive. A friend mentioned Senor Don Gato on a Facebook post this morning, which prompted me to take a look at this thread again. :-)