Ch 18 · Lesson 24

Song: La cucaracha

Play it, read along word by word, then answer the questions. Every word is at your level - the song page teaches the few that are new.

Play the song and read along - tap any word you don't know. Then answer the questions underneath and the lesson completes itself.

La cucaracha

The Cockroach

The recording opens with the lame-cockroach refrain below and then wanders into further traditional verses beyond the two we print, as every singer of this song has done for two centuries.

Lyrics

Refrán tradicional

, ,

,

,

.

Refrán (1915)

, ,

,

,

.

New words in this song

Comprehension drill

3 questions on what you just read. Get one wrong and the story will show you where it says otherwise.

Anonymous and old - the song is named in Mexico by 1819 and collected in 19th-century Spain. The refrain here is printed on a dated 1915 Mexico City broadside (Imprenta de Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, Library of Congress); the "patitas" refrain is the song's oldest comic core per the Spanish collections. We use only the anonymous pre-1930 material. Source text. Translation ours.

Open the full song page for the background to the song.

Lesson 24 of 28 in this chapter

Back to the curriculum

What do the colours mean?