Lyr Req: Clarín de Campaña

Subject: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 08:31 AM

I'm looking for the Mexican song Clarin de campana
Chorus is: ...
Recordando que tal vez manana
clarin de campana
nos llame a morir / pelear.

In google I found it only in the Index of Songs of the Great American West, but Amazon.de has difficulties in obtaining.

Can anybody help me out with the lyrics, please?

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: CLARÍN DE CAMPAÑA
From: masato sakurai
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 10:38 AM

Wilfried, here you are.

CLARÍN DE CAMPAÑA
(The Triumph of Battle)

English text: Arthur Kevess
Collected during the War of the American Intervention, 1847.

X:1
T:CLARÍN DE CAMPAÑA
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:1/8=120
B:Irwin Silber & Earl Robinson, Songs of the Great American West, p. 63
K:E
[EB,][GE]|:"E"[BG][BG][BG] [BG][^A^^F][BG]|[c=A][B3/2G3/2][A/F/] [GE][c3/2A3/2][B/G/]|
w:1.Mien-tras ten-gan li-cor las bo-te-llas, ha-ga-mos co-
w:1.While there's wine in our glass let's be mer-ry, For-get pain and
[BG][AF][GE] "B7"[FD][GE][AF]|"E"[B6-G6-]|[1[B2G2]zz[EB,][GE]:|][2[B2G2]zzEE||
w:ne-llas mas dul-ce~el vi-vir,_ Mien-tras _ re-cor-
w:wor-ry, for-get how we sigh._ While there's _ For to-
|:"A"[cA][cA][dB] H[ec][dB][cA]|"E"[cA][B3/2G3/2][A/F/] [GE][c3/2A3/2][B/G/]|
w:dan-do que tal vez ma-ña-na cla-rin de cam-
w:mor-row the can-non may thun-der, To-mor-row the
[BG][AF][GE] "B7"[FD][BG][AF]|[1"E"[G3-E3-]"E7"[GE] EE:|][2"E"H[G4E4]|]
w:pa-ña nos lla-me~a mo-rir._ Re-cor- rir.
w:trum-pets may call us to die._ For to- die.

Mientras tengan licor las botellas,
hagamos con ellas más dulce el vivir, (repeat)
recordando que tal vez mañana
clarín de campaña nos llame a morir. (repeat)

Mientras tengan perfume las flores,
olviden dolores y vengan a amar, (repeat)
recordando que tal vez mañana
clarín de campaña nos llame a morir. (repeat)

Mira Muerte, no seas inhumana
no vengas mañana, déjame vivir; (repeat)
recordando que tal vez mañana
clarín de campaña nos llame a morir. (repeat)

Vengan, vengan, muchachas hermosas,
vendid presurosas, que vengan a amar; (repeat)
recordando que tal vez mañana
clarín de campaña nos llame a morir. (repeat)


While there's wine in our glass let's be merry,
Forget pain and worry, forget how we sigh. (repeat)
For tomorrow the cannon may thunder,
Tomorrow the trumpets may call us to die. (repeat)

Lovely girls in mantillas and laces,
Come share our embraces and love us tonight, (repeat)
For tomorrow the cannon may thunder,
Tomorrow the trumpets may call us to die. (repeat)

Listen, Death, I have heard all about you,
I can do without you, so pas me right by, (repeat)
For tomorrow the cannon may thunder,
Tomorrow the trumpets may call us to die. (repeat)

People say, though the body is mortal,
The soul through its portal to heaven takes flight, (repeat)
For tomorrow the cannon may thunder,
Tomorrow the trumpets may call us to die. (repeat)

---

Click to play

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 03:52 PM

Hear it sung (partially?) at this San Diego history site: Clarin de campana
Link at base of Media pictures.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 06:59 AM

Thanks, friends, for your quick answer. I have it on a CD with songs of the Mexican Revolution, but my Spanish is less than a poco de poco to decipher it by hearing. I must read it and then muster my Latin knowledge.
On this CD the singers use pelear (to fight) where a rhyme is needed for a verb ending in -ar, like amar.
The title translation should be: Bugle = horn of combat. One must have heard it in the field, at mornings in the tents, rousing fear, anger, and happiness.

Cheers
Wilfried

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 03:02 PM

It is difficult to express the exact content of a poem or song in translation.
The last verse of the Spanish version becomes the second verse in the translation given in Silber (Masato, above). Its literal translation is-

Come, come, lovely maidens,
Love us in haste, those who come to love.
Remember that tomorrow
The bugles of war call for us to die.

The translator filled in the 'mantillas and laces' and 'cannons may thunder' to make up the English version of the verse. Nothing wrong in that, provided that the meaning is not distorted.

The title itself is difficult to express as its meaning in the original poem seems to have been the 'clarion call of the campaign.' The translated title in Silber and Robinson, "Triumph of Battle," is wrong. 'Call to Battle,' 'Bugle Call of Battle' are simpler.

I have heard that there was a poem that led to the corrido but this may be speculation. I also would like to know if it does date back to the Mexican War.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 20 Oct 04 - 10:01 AM

Q - thanks for your comments.

According to several modern dictionaries clarín seems to be used nowadays without the addition de campaña = of, or better field, for the use in. It is nothing else than the military bugle, a wind instrument, metal, without pistons.
In the full expression clarín de campaña it is still used as the name of a diapason, or register, of the organ in Spain, a pitch higher than the trumpet.
The last line uses the subjunctive:
... Keeping in mind that tomorrow the bugle might call (or awaken) us to die.

The song describes the soldier's usual experience: carpe diem = pluck the day, and don't trust the next one to bring anything good (Q. Horatius Flaccus).
So the translation should be as simple as the original, and all laces and such should be omitted.

Subject: Lyr Add: CLARÍN DE CAMPAÑA
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Nov 04 - 02:32 PM

Here is a much more complete "Clarín de Campaña" from the excellent collection, "Corridos de la capital."

Lyr. Add: CLARÍN DE CAMPAÑA

El diavente de augosto funesto
combates perdidos
por nuestra nación;
Donde Anaya y demás militares
su vida jugaron
con tanto valor.

La mitad de la patria querida
fue a dar a las manos
del cruel invasor.
Que ostentoso mostraba triunfante
la lucha ganada
con fuerza mayor.

Mientras tengan licor las botellas
hagamos con ellas
más dulce el vivir.
Recordando que tal vez mañana
clarín de campaña
nos llame a morir.

Mientras tengan licor las botellas
beberemos de ellas
hasta emborrachar.
Recordando que tal vez manaña
clarín de campaña
nos llame a pelear.

Mientras tengan perfumes las flores,
olviden dolores,
y vengan a amar.
Recordando que tal vez manaña
clarín de campaña
nos llame a pelear.

Mira muerte, no seas inhumana,
no vengan manaña
déjame vivir.
Recordando que tal vez manaña
clarín de campaña
nos llame a morir.

Todos dicen que el cuerpo es de tierra
que el alma que entierra
es lo que ha de vivir.
Recordando que tal vez manaña
clarín de campaña
nos llame a morir.

Vengan, vengan, muchachas
hermosas,
venid presurosas
que vengan a amar
Recordando que tal vez manaña
clarín de campaña
nos llame a pelear.

The poem "Clarín de Campaña," was adapted to circumstances by the Mexican troops during the initial American invasion, 1846-1847. The forces of General Pedro María de Anaya were defeated.
On August 20, 1847, at the convent of Churubusco in México City, the troops surrendered to General David Emanuel Twiggs. México lost Alta California, Nuevo México, Arizona, *Santa Fé and Alta Sonora (an area extending from Kansas in the east, Wyoming in the north and California in the west).
The loss is indelibly stamped into the Mexican psyche.
A simplified version is known from the San Diego area of California.

Antonio Avitia Hernández, 2000, "Corridos de la capital," pp. 44-45; Consejo Para la Cultura y Las Artes, México DF; 249 pp.

* The royal city of Santa Fé had been a separate property of the King of Spain; its title papers succeeded to México.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 03 Nov 04 - 03:13 AM

Q - thank you so much! This is the version I have on a CD (without the first two stanzas) and could understand only partially.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: GUEST,civil68
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 12:17 PM

I'm curious about the phrase "venid presurosas"? Nowhere can I find a translation of the word "presurosas." While I haven't studied Spanish in almost 40 years, I'm wondering if the the lyrics might not be something more like "venid entre su rosas" having heard the Weavers version of "Recordando Que Manana." Then, a rather stiff translation might be sxomething like "(you) come among your rosas that you've come to love." Just a thought.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 02:15 PM

Guest civil68, you need a better dictionary (So do I, but it is in mine, "Vox Concise College Spanish and English Dictionary").

presuroso, sa- adj. prompt, hasty, hurried, swift.
also presura- f.- anxiety, haste, eagerness.

Mine was published in Barcelona, but I need a good one published in Mexico in order to get the Mexican idioms and words not or little used in Spain.

I have talked with a student here from Mexico. He says that although a simple translation of 'clarin' is bugle, its meaning in the song to Mexicans is more of a clarion call, a call to action.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Escamillo
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 03:36 AM

That's correct, "venid presurosas" = "come (to me), promptly, hurry up". Please remember that I am a native Spanish speaker, and would like to help whenever you need me.

Un abrazo,
Andrés (in Buenos Aires)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 03:07 PM

Your help is always welcome, Andrés.
Regional usage causes problems in translations. I remember some of the Spanish used by a friend from Colombia who tried to teach some of us a little Spanish. I remember his word for brown was carmelito and for gray was isabelino (after the Carmelites with their brown robes, and after Queen Isabella, who was supposed to have had her underclothes sewed on, thus gray and dingy). Neither definition is found in the usual dictionary.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 08:56 AM

About the underwear of Quenn Isabella I heard a different story: the colour "Isabell brown" comes from a vow of the aforesaid queen not to change her shirt until Spain was freed from Arab rule. When she finally changed her shirt in 1492 (fall of Granada), it had taken this brown tone of colour.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Clarin de campana
From: Escamillo
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 04:02 PM

When I made my first visit to Venezuela, it was hard to make people understand what I meant, because of the regionalisms. Once I asked for a JUGO DE ANANÁ (pinapple juice), the man stared at me for a while, and went away. Then I realized that ANANÁ is an Argentinean/Brazilian word, and then asked for a JUGO DE PIÑA. The man turned back, put a machine on, .. bbbzzzzzzzzzzz... and one minute later served the jar to ANOTHER person at the other end of the bar, then came back to me and told me ENTONCES? (and then..?)

I looked at the menus on the wall, and then asked for BATIDO DE PIÑA and got my pinapple juice.

Un abrazo
Andrés