Mexican culture: song Cucurrucucu Paloma Posted by Adir on Jun 13, 2010 in Spanish Culture
The song Cucurrucucú Paloma was written by Tomás Méndez and first sung by Lola Beltrán. It tells the story of a man whose lover died and is devastated by her absence. He’s so hopeless that he only cries and drinks and the only thing that calms him down is when this little dove (la paloma) comes to his windowsill and cooes, leading him to believe that its the spirit of his long lost love.
Cucurrucucú Paloma was also recorded by artists like Julio Iglesias, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Perla and Caetano Veloso and it’s a landmark in Mexican culture and folklore. Check out the video with the song below and the lyrics with the translation.
Enjoy and sing along!
Dicen que por las noches no más se le iba en puro llorar (They say that every night he was overtaken by tears)
Dicen que no comía, no más se le iba en puro tomar. (They say he wouldn’t eat, he would only drink.)
Juran que el mismo cielo se estremecía al oír su llanto. (They say that even the heavens would trembled to hear his wail)
Cómo sufrió por ella, que hasta en su muerte la fue llamando (He suffered for her so, that even in death he kept calling for her)
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay cantaba, (Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, he would sing)
ay, ay, ay, ay, ay gemía, (Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, he would moan)
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay cantaba, (Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, he would sing)
De pasión mortal moría. (He would die of mortal passion)
Que una paloma triste muy de mañana le va a cantar (They say that a sad dove would come to sing for him every morning)
A la casita sola con sus puertitas de par en par (It would sing at the little house with its little doors wide open)
Juran que esa paloma no es otra cosa más que su alma (They swear this dove is nothing but her soul)
Que todavía espera a que regrese la desdichada. (That is waiting for this ill-fated woman to return)
Cucurrucucú paloma, cucurrucucú no llores. (Cucurrucucú dove, cucurrucucú don’t cry)
Las piedras jamás, paloma, ¿qué van a saber de amores? (The stones, dove, what do they know about love?)
Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú, (Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú)
cucurrucucú, paloma, ya no le llores. (Cucurrucucú, dove, don’t cry for her.)
Nos vemos prontito.
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About the Author: Adir
English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.
Comments:
TruthSlayer:
BEAUTIFUL! My mother used to play this song on the piano, which I still have, and all us kids would gather round and sing.
Monica:
I love this song! I sang this song for Xmas and I was 11 and my family cried when I sang it!
Barbara:
When my wonderful Irish husband passed away, he had asked that his best friend sing this to me at the funeral. Our friend sang it in Spanish (the most meaningful way) At the time, I didn’t understand the words..now I do and it means everything to me
Andrés Palma de Russo:
Desde siempre se queda la saudade! Que no me llores!
Barbara McNulty:
I love this song. Before my husband passed away, he had asked his friend to sing it for me at the funeral. It is such a sad song..I don’t know how he was able.to sing it..but, I will be forever grateful. He sang it in Spanish, and I didn’t know the translation until later. It means everything to me.
Lee:
What a beautiful song…..I grew up singing the cucurrucu -cu part of the son as a child thinking all this time it was a song about a rooster! Yesterday I was looking it up and found a clip of Lola Betran singing this song with immense passion where she collapsed. She was helped up by her friends and had tears in her eyes…..the music picked up where she lef off . She was unable to begin to sing until and one by one other loving friends sang her song to encourage her. I had tears in my eyes at this point. Then she dug deep and began to sing once again! WOW! It was powerful! Still had tears in my eyes. At this point I didn’t know what the song was about. Then I found this/your explaination of the song…….more tears cam to my eyes! Tears of sorrow and joy! Can’t explain it but it touched me deeply. I now feel blessed to understand the movie clip and the emotion of the song. Can’t thank you enough for this explaination of lyrics.