Happy Cinco de Mayo! Since it’s Cinco de Mayo, this week we’re talking about a song instead of an artist. This week we’re going to talk about a classic Mexican folk song – La Cucaracha.

Why are we choosing this song? Because we can. Pretty simple.

Everyone knows this song at this point. It’s a song about a cockroach that can’t walk because it doesn’t have legs. The melody is as iconic as any other in all of music history. I would venture to say that you would be able to recognize the song without even hearing the lyrics.

The history of the song is a somewhat mysterious. The song began to appear with lyrics referring to various battles and wars in Spanish history. There are also references to the occupation of Spain by the Moors. Once the Mexican Revolution began in the 1910s, the lyrics were changed for political purposes. Both sides of the war utilized the iconic melody to deliver political messages.

The lyrics that go beyond the first verse that we know. The Mexican Revolutionary-period lyrics are very political. “La Cucaracha” himself refers to Victoriana Huerta, President of Mexico at the time. He was a noted drunk and was widely blamed for the death of the previously President. Other competing versions of the song came from soldiers and activists on other sides of the fight.

Nowadays, the song has lost all of it’s political connotations. It’s just a fun song for people to kick back and enjoy on a day like today.

This Cinco De Mayo, enjoy a nice Mexican beer, kick back and enjoy La Cucaracha.

For last week’s post on Rocio Jurado, click here.

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