Lyr Req: no hay mujera

Subject: no hay mujera
From: toadfrog
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 01:10 AM

This guy I knew long ago would sing this song. I once asked him for the words, and he said no, I couldn't have them. I can only remember the (short) chorus, which goes:

No hay marijuana, no hay muscatel,
No hay mujera, God damn it to hell!

Has anyone ever heard the song; or know the words, or know where it comes from?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: Deckman
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 09:25 PM

I suspect that this is a perverson of a song found in one of John Steinbecks stories, maybe Tortilla Flat. I remember it as something like this: No hay la pluma, no hay papel, no hay escribo, Godamnit to Hell. (I have no pen, I have paper, I cannot write, Goddamn it to Hell.) This is something of a sterotype and subsequencially a racial insult. This might account for your friends reluctance to teach it. CHEERS, Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: toadfrog
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 10:50 PM

I think the song did not come directly from Steinbeck, because it had a tune. I don't know where that camd from. Whether it was a racial insult depends in part on who wrote it, which I don't know. But the guy who sang it was not my friend!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: GUEST,Sunny Spain
Date: 25 Jun 01 - 09:46 AM

It's not that I know the origin of the song, but just a few things (for Cervantes's sake!).

*mujera* = it should be *mujeres* (sg. *mujer*). I guess someone singing a song like this wouldn't be happy with just ONE woman, so it must be plural.

*muscatel* = it should be *moscatel*, an extremely dark, sweet wine very popular in Southern Spain and from here to the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. Disgusting hang-over, though, perhaps too much sugar.

Interesting the way every nationality warps other languages: tell me how you understand this world and I'll tell wher you are from.

Still wondering how you could make *alligator* from *el lagarto*... Cheers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: toadfrog
Date: 25 Jun 01 - 10:08 PM

Maybe I should apologise for the thread; I had not realized people would take it as an insult. But I was genuinely interested in the song, if in fact it is a real song. Although I did not much like the guy who sang it. He certainly could have meant more than one woman; that would have expressed his view of life very well.

I, for one, do not make alligators, not out of anything. Much to cautious for that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Jun 01 - 11:00 PM

But still, if you say "el largato" as one word, ie "elegarto" it could easily come out as "alligator". No opinon on the song as I have never heard it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 25 Jun 01 - 11:34 PM

G'day our GUEST in Sunny Spain,

And *moscatel* is what the Spanish made of the Provençal muscatel - the diminutive of muscade, a sweet rich French wine made from the muscat grape.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: GUEST,Cloudy Spain
Date: 26 Jun 01 - 06:19 AM

I'm sorry if I sounded offensive. It was not my attention anyway and I seriously apologise. Everything was intended as a joke but as it seems, internet doesn't have enough resources to express feelings such as irony, kidding, etc. And thanks for the info about the *musquet* grape . I didn't know that (are you sure the original wine was FRENCH?-oh dear!).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: no hay mujera
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 26 Jun 01 - 09:00 AM

G'day Sunny - Cloudy Spain,

No ... A good idea is one everyone thinks they had first! (I don't mind a judicious drop of Muscatel ... or moscatel). The linguists seem to think the French references are earlier - but who is to say the Spanish weren't too busy drinking a good drop to write about it.

Regards,

Bob Bolton