The song consists of verse-and-refrain (strophe-antistrophe) pairs, with each half of each pair consisting of four lines featuring an ABCB rhyme scheme.
Refrain[]
The song's earliest lyrics, from which its name is derived, concern a cockroach that has lost one of its six legs and is struggling to walk with the remaining five. The cockroach's uneven, five-legged gait is imitated by the song's original 5/4 meter, formed by removing one upbeat (corresponding to the missing sixth leg) from the second half of a 6/4 measure:
La cu-ca- | ra-cha, la cu-ca-ra-cha
| ya no pue-de ca-mi-nar
por-que no | tie-ne, por-que le fal-ta
| u-na pa-ta de a-tras.
("The cockroach, the cockroach / can no longer walk / because he doesn't have, because he lacks / a hind leg"; these lyrics form the basis for the refrain of most later versions. Syllables having primary stress are in boldface; syllables having secondary stress are in roman type; unstressed syllables are in italics. Measure divisions are independent of text line breaks and are indicated by vertical barlines; note that the refrain begins with an anacrusis/"pickup.")
Many later versions of the song, especially those whose lyrics do not mention the cockroach's missing leg(s), extend the last syllable of each line to fit the more familiar 6/4 meter.
Verses[]
The song's verses fit a traditional melody separate from that of the refrain but sharing the refrain's meter (either 5/4 or 6/4 as discussed above). In other respects, they are highly variable, usually providing satirical commentary on contemporary political or social problems or disputes.
Historical evolution[]
The origins of "La Cucaracha" are obscure; because the refrain's lyrics make no explicit reference to historical events, it is difficult if not impossible to date. Because verses are improvised according to the needs of the moment, however, they often enable a rough estimate of their age by mentioning contemporary social or political conditions (thus narrowing a version's possible time of origin to periods in which those conditions prevailed) and/or referring to specific current or past events (thus setting a maximum boundary for a version's age).
Pre-Revolution lyrics[]
There exist several early (pre-Revolution) sets of lyrics referring to historical events.
Francisco Rodríguez Marín records in his book Cantos Populares Españoles several verses dealing with the Reconquista, which was completed in 1492 when the Moors surrendered the Alhambra to Spain.
Spanish
English
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
The cockroach, the cockroach,
ya no puede caminar
can't walk anymore
porque no tiene, porque le falta
because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
marihuana que fumar.
marijuana to smoke.
Ya murió la cucaracha
The cockroach just died
ya la llevan a enterrar
now they take her to be buried
entre cuatro zopilotes
among four buzzards
y un ratón de sacristán.
and a mouse as the sexton.
In Disney[]
La Cucaracha appears in A Bug's Life by Hopper and his gang of grasshoppers and it also appears in Cars 2 when Mater is wearing his taco truck disguise and the horn plays "La Cucaracha". In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is the horn on Luis' van.
Trivia[]
The Wiggles later performed this song on their Hoop-Dee-Doo: It's a Wiggly Party Album in 2001
Mater's Tall Tales:Rescue Squad Mater • Mater the Greater • El Materdor • Tokyo Mater • Unidentified Flying Mater • Monster Truck Mater • Heavy Metal Mater • Moon Mater • Mater Private Eye • Air Mater • Time Travel Mater Tales From Radiator Springs:Hiccups • Bugged • Spinning • The Radiator Springs 500½ Canceled Episodes:To Protect and Serve
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Cars 2:You Might Think • Polyrhythm • Mon Cœur Fait Vroum (My Heart Goes Vroom) • Collision of Worlds • Nobody's Fool Cars 3:Run That Race • King's Highway • Glory Days • Ride Cars on the Road:Cars on the Road • TRUCKS Others:Free Ride • Welcome to Radiator Springs • Radiator Rock • Mambo Italiano • Stop in the Name of Love • Riding in My Car (Car Car Song) • Low Rider (Espanol Fantasma Mix) • Junkyard Jamboree • Big Bulldozer • Tow Mater (The One You Want to Call) • Mater's Square Dance • Let's Go Driving
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