What are the lyrics to La Cockaracha (The Cockroach) in Spanish?
La cucaracha, la cucaracha Ya no puede caminar Porque no tiene, porque le falta Marijuana que fumar. (The cockroach, the cockroach Now he can’t go traveling Because he doesn’t have, because he lacks Marijuana to smoke.) You’re thinking: Mexicans are strange. But there’s more going on here than meets the eye. “La Cucaracha” is the Spanish equivalent of “Yankee Doodle”–a traditional satirical tune periodically fitted out with new lyrics to meet the needs of the moment. The origins of the song are obscure, but apparently it’s pretty old. Some verses I came across refer to the Moorish wars in Spain, which concluded with the conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. (Obviously 1492 was a big year for Ferdinand and Isabella on a number of fronts.) Probably the song itself doesn’t go back that far, but in an 1818 book, according to one source, the Mexican writer Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi claimed the song was brought to Mexico from Spain by a captai
