The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #77746   Message #1390866
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
27-Jan-05 - 10:45 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Venga Jaleo origin & refrain/translation
Subject: RE: Origins: Venga Jaleo origin & refrain/translation
Joe, I just noted the 'sueño' in your posts- incorrect! I should have seen this. None of the Spanish language websites uses the word with tilde. This is complicated by the fact that a Spaniard pronounces suena almost as sueño (double meaning, see note 3., below- dreaming of machine gun, sexual intercourse and Franco gone). See the text of the later version of the song at the end of this post for proper diacritical marks.
The refrain is:

Venga jaleo, jaleo - Come, make a disturbance (rise up)
suena la ametralladora - play (fire) the machine gun (see 3.. below)
y Franco se va a paseo (2x). -idiom: and Franco will (be forced) to take a stroll.
There are multiple levels of meaning here. One has to know the background to get it all.

1. Ametralladora, pl. ametralladoras- machine gun, a feminine word. The line is about the gun, and the man who fires it. Here is an article in Spanish on the machine gun: Ametralladora
2. That is just part of it. "La Ametrallidora" was an influential anti-Franco paper issued during the war, 1937-1939, and subtitled "Semanario de los Soldados" (Weekly for soldiers). Bawdy humor, but also instructions on fighting, incitement, etc.:
La Ametralladora
3. Ametralladora also refers to rapid-fire sexual intercourse (pumping as fast as a machine gun fires). There is a website illustrating this in a rapid fire comic cartoon, but be careful- there could be a bug for those without top protection. I won't give a link, but just go through the sites under "amrtralladora."

The early version of "El Quinto Regimiento" lacked the refrain:

Lyr: Con El Quinto Regimiento

Con el Quinto, Quinto, Quinto,
Con el Quinto Regimiento,
Tengo que marchar al frente
Porque quiero entrer en fuego.

Con los quatro batallones
que están Madrid defendiendo,
Va toda la flor de España,
La flor más roja del pueblo.

Madre, madre, madre, vaya usted mirando
Nuestro Regimiento se aleja cantando.

The above from a French site that has the three main versions of the song: El Quinto

This website is very good- the songs with text, midi, mp3:
Canciones
Here is a late version of the song:

Lyr. Add: El Quinto Regimiento

El dieciocho de julio
en el patio de un convento
el partido comunista
fundó el Quinto Regimiento.

Venga jaleo, jaleo
suena la ametralladora
y Franco se va a paseo,
y Franco se va a paseo.

Con Lister, el Campesino,
con Galán y con Modesto
con el comandante Carlos
no hay miliciano, con miedo.

Venga jaleo, jaleo, etc.

Con los quatro batallones
que Madrid están defendiendo
se va lo mejor de España
la flor más roja del pueblo.

Venga jaleo, jaleo, etc.

Con el quinto, quinto, quinto,
con el Quinto Regimiento
madre yo me voy al frente
para las lineas de fuego.

Venga jaleo, jaleo
suena la ametralladora
y Franco se va a paseo,
y Franco se va a paseo.

Many anti-Fascist Spaniards were also anti-communist. With more moderate politicians in charge, the Republicans may have had better success. Of course when German air power and arms for Franco came in as Hitler prepared for war, I doubt the final outcome would have been different.