The Mexican Corrido is a form of musical folk ballad that has been a typical expression of
Mexican life for well over a century.(1) The corrido encompasses three generic sub-types or
qualities: lyric, epic, and narrative. The epic type relates the deeds of its protagonist in the
tradition of the classical writers of antiquity such as Homer and Virgil. The narrative character
of the corrido is demonstrated by the fact that it sings its tale in the first or third person and
reflects the popular sense of notable events effecting Mexican society such as violent murders
and other spectacular crimes, the daring feats of revolutionary soldiers and bandits, natural
catastrophes, train wrecks, love affairs, political intrigues, various humorous episodes, etc. But
the lyric quality is what distinguishes the corrido from other forms more than any other for it is
the voice of the people singing from the heart, most often accompanied by the lyre's modern
Mexican equivalent: the Spanish guitar.
The corrido presents an opportunity for the study of popular musical influences in Mexico
as well as for the recent history and psychology of Mexican society in general. In this brief paper
I will attempt to define the corrido in terms of its historical derivation, meter and musicality. I
will also present an example for illustrative analysis, pointing out where it corresponds to the
classical archetype and where it departs from it, and the historical and social significance of the
lyrics.
The term corrido comes from the Spanish word correr--to run--and refers to the fact that
the words of each of the stanzas of four eight-syllable lines characteristic of this genre are sung
through without any interruption.(2) The corrido derives from the well-known romance(3) tradition
of Spain which it resembles in a number of ways. For example, the romance contains an
indetermnate number of octo-syllabic lines alternating in pairs with asonant rhyme scheme in the
even lines and none in the odd. The classic corrido form also consists of octo-syllabic lines
alternating in pairs (and sometimes with asonant rhyme scheme in the even lines and none in the
odd) but, unlike the romance, are rendered into the above-mentioned strophes of four quatrains.
Duvalier explains,
"It is established that the romance corrido, corrida, corrido o
carrerilla, is nothing more than the Spanish romance itself sung and
played in a special way. The song is "corrido" because the thirty-two
musical notes that correspond to the thirty-two syllables of the octo-syllabic quatrain are sung without any interruption." (4)
Duvalier's interpretation may characterize a good number of early corridos but does not
strictly apply to every example, as over time they have acquired, and continue to acquire, an ever
greater flexibility and variety of form.
The musical characteristics of the corrido demonstrate a simple folksong style in contrast to
the form's classical antecedents. Tempos vary from lento to allegro and may reflect the
spontaneous requirements of the audience (5) as much as the song's thematic mood. Time
signatures are most often 4/4 or 2/4 but may also be 3/4 or 6/8. Stress or accents show
considerable variability from example to example and are usually determined by the
requirements of accommodating the lyrical lines. A vocal glissando or melisma technique is
frequently used to achieve this accommodation as well, usually occuring at the end of the second
and/or last line of a strophe.
The tradition of the corrido in Mexico has been maintained through spontaneous
performance and, significantly, by means of printed song sheets sold by individual composers as
well as by publishing houses which have often printed collections. These cancioneros, still a
very popular item in the bookstalls of contemporary Mexican marketplaces, have resulted in the
preservation of many examples of corridos that might have otherwise been lost.
The following example of a traditional corrido offers a suitable starting point to introduce
the process of analysis as it clearly demonstrates several classical characteristics and the melody
is widely familiar. "La Cucaracha," a revolutionary-era tune from the Mexican state of
Chihuahua, was the marching song of the forces of "PanchoVilla" (Doroteo Arango) whose
accomplishments included a successful military raid into U.S. territory.
The song begins with an estribillo (chorus), which is sung after each of the following verses.
The number of verses is potentially limitless as each singer makes up new ones and there are
many regional variations. I will select only a few for the purpose at hand.
(Estribillo):
La cucaracha, la cucaracha
ya no quiere caminar;
porque le falta, porque no tiene
marijuana que fumar.
We may infer from the title and the first and oft-repeated line of the chorus that the
experience of marching with the villistas probably left a lot to be desired as far as creature
comforts were concerned.(6) The cockroach may be seen as symbolizing the pestilential aspect of
life in a military campaign.(7) It would also seem that marijuana was a popular diversion among
the soldiers, as this verse also suggests:
Un panadero fue a misa,
no encontrando que rezar,
le pidió a la Virgen pura
marijuana que fumar.
In the verses of "La Cucaracha" we see the classic octo-syllabic structure (more or less)
rendered in quatrains. The rhyme scheme varies considerably as is to be expected in this
example so dependent on spontaneous composition.
This verse...
Con las barbas de Forey
voy a hacer un vaquerillo,
pa'ponerselo al caballo
del valiente don Porfírio.
...actually portrays a period well before the revolutionary era. Forey was a French military
commander during the short reign of the Emperor Maximilian. Perhaps this verse was popular
with the villistas because of the symbolic parallel with the defeated foreign invader (France in the
1860s vs. the U.S. in 1916). "Don Porfírio" refers to Porfírio Díaz who later became Mexico's
longest reigning dictator before fleeing the country on the eve of the revolution in 1910.
This verse presents another image of re-making the beard hairs of a foe (in this case, rival
revolutionary Venustiano Carranza):
Con las barbas de Carranza
voy a hacer una toquilla,
pa' ponérsela al sombrero
de su padre Pancho Villa.
As in the previously cited verse about the beard-hairs of márechal Forey, the villistas are
going to manufacture something more useful to themselves from this material--in the former case
a piece of decorative horse tack, in the latter a hatband for their leader.(8)
Sex, in addition to drugs and politics, was another preoccupation of the rank and file
villistas as we see in this envious verse tinged with a pinch of misogyny:
La cucaracha, señores,
siempre fue una mascotilla
y además linda muchacha
que llevaba Pancho Villa.
In this verse misogyny is much more explicit:
Las mujeres son el diablo,
parientes de lucifer,
se visten por la cabeza,
se desnudan por los pies.
On the same theme, the southern state of Jalisco is represented as possessing the most
readily available women:
Para sarapes, Saltillo:
Chihuahua. para soldados:
para mujeres, Jalisco,
para amar, toditos lados.
But the biggest surprise to the un-sophisticated cowboys of Chihuahua must have been the
welcome they received from the bold girls of the big city:
Las mujeres de mi tierra
no saben ni dar un beso,
en cambio las mexicanas
hasta estiran el pescuezo.
The historical fact of female combatants was also a part of the revoltionary era and the
theme of many corridos. The real-life soldaderas became the stuff of legend, but later
commentators(9) decried the sexist response of their male comrades-in-arms as seen in this
fragment:
Que bonitas soldaderas
cuando bailan el fandango.
In this verse the corridista pines for the latest technology in order to arrive in Mexico City in
time for the famed meeting between the two revolutionary leaders, Villa and Zapata.
Necesito un automóvil
para hacer la caminata
al lugar donde mandó
a la Convención Zapata
The two famous figures(10) made their grand entrance on horseback, however, a scene
represented in an original film clip in the video Corridos.(11)
As in many examples of Mexican artistic sensibility, Death is the final victor and this corrido is no exception:
En la mina todo brilla
debido a sus minerales,
ya murió Francisco Villa:
general de generales.
And in this verse even the pitiable cockroach croaks, but not without appropriate ceremony
(and imagery reminiscent of "The Simpsons"):
Ya murió la cucaracha,
ya la llevan a enterrrar,
entre cuatro zopilotes,
y un ratón de sacristán.
But the corridista must have the last word:
La cucaracha, la cucaracha
ya no puede caminar,
porque no quiere y ya no quiero
tantas plagas aguantar.
Conclusion
The Mexican corrido tradition continues to express the social and historical consciousness
of the Mexican people with a constantly widening scope of forms, styles, and themes. Purists
and scholars may be appalled by some recent examples and trends (e.g., corrido-rap) but the
process of corrido development is clearly beyond the control of any emotional response other
than the genre's own demiurgic compulsion to sing itself as it always has--without pretension of
learning or any great regard for its own history but ever overflowing with the frothy experience
of life.
Castañeda, Daniel. El corrido mexicano: Su técnica literaria y musical. México, D.F: Editorial "Sucro", 1943.
Espinosa de los Monteros, Orlando. Introduccion a la poesia. Mexico, D.F: Editorial
Concepto, S.A., 1977.
Herrera-Sobek, María. The Mexican Corrido - A Feminist Analysis. Bloomington and
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Short, Ken, dir. Corridos. (Video production adapted from original stage play written by
Francisco Gonzalez and produced by Charles H. Duggan and El Teatro Campesino). San
Francisco: KQED-TV, 1987
Simmons, Merle E. The Mexican Corrido as a Source for Interpretative Study of Modern
Mexico (1870-1950). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957.
Simpson, Lesley Byrd. Many Mexicos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966.
Friedman, Edward H; Valdivieso, L. Teresa; Virgilio, Carmelo; (Eds.). Aproximaciones al estudio de la literatura hispánica. New York: Random House, 1989.
1. Merle E. Simmons, The Mexican Corrido as a Source for Interpretative Study of Modern Mexico (1870-1950, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957), vii.
2. Many examples of corridos do not necessarily conform to this pattern but it is considered the definitive classic one by scholars such as Casteñeda and Duvalier.
3. The etymology of the word romance, of course, stems from the epic tradition of Greco-Roman antiquity, as previously noted.
4. Armand Duvalier, "Romance y corrido." Crisol, revista mensual publicada por el Bloque de Obreros Intelectuales de Mexico, XV (September, 1937), 10; quoted in Simmons, pp. 8.
5. For example, in performing a popular corrido for a group of listeners that has gathered for the purpose of dancing, considerations of tempo would necessarily be tailored to suit that activity and could conceivably differ from a purely concert performance.
6. Judson Lewis, my uncle and a trooper in the forces of Gen. John J. (Blackjack) Pershing, participated in an expedition into the state of Chihuahua in pursuit of Villa's army after the bold invasion of Columbus, New Mexico, by the guerilla leader in March 1916 in which nineteen persons were killed. On more than one occasion I heard Lewis describe the hardship of that campaign as they rode across the harsh terrain of Chihuahua in a futile attempt to destroy Villa's forces. Ironically, the U.S. troops consoled themselves in their misery by singing "La Cucaracha."
7. The word "roach" when used as a euphemism for a partially smoked marijuana cigarette is very likely derived from this source. "La Cucaracha" is such a popular song that it is known round the world. In my own experience I first encountered it printed in an elementary school songbook. The phrase "marijuana que fumar," interestingly, had been replaced with "dinero para gastar," perhaps chosen by a censor as the lesser of two evils. But the effort to change the character of this popular corrido proved fruitless as the playground rumor mill of my day delighted in setting the record straight at every opportunity.
8. The vaqueros of Chihuahua are known to this day for their skill in plaiting useful artifacts from horsehair.
9. For a discussion of the soldadera's various manifestations from historical figure to romanticized love object see Herrera-Sobek, 77-116.
10. Villa and Zapata both were later assassinated, which dramatic events have furnished the theme for many more corridos as well as inspiration for would-be revolutionaries in Mexico of the present day.
11. Ken Short, dir. Corridos.
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Comments:
>Hi Dan. You know, I really like your article on the Mexican corrido, except from what I studied, I was told that the corrido is a ballad form which has NO "estribillo", or refrain, or chorus. The song you first exemplify, La Cucaracha, is in fact a "ranchera" simply because it has a chorus refrain. I want to link your article to my mariachi general information/article page, but now I have some reservation as I don't totally agree with your analysis (only on that level). Could you explain?
Sincerely,
Laura Sobrino
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hola Laura,
...and thanks for your interest in my paper. The truth is I haven't thought much about it lately but I think that making the existence of a chorus a disqualifying feature might eliminate many examples of what a lot of people regard as good corridos. Having said that, I think you may well be correct--strictly speaking--and in retrospect I might have chosen a better example with a pedigree of greater purity. But if you look around I think you will find that some songs generally known as "corridos" have a chorus and some do not. But before you attempt to define the genre in strict terms, what about the word "corrido" itself? Like the word "Flamenco" there are a number of theories besides the one I mention. Some are rather silly, perhaps, but cannot necessarily be ruled out. I mean, is "corrido" a style, a form, a tradition, or all of these? To quote from my paper,
"The Mexican corrido tradition continues to express the social and historical consciousness of the Mexican people with a constantly widening scope of forms, styles, and themes. Purists and scholars may be appalled by some recent examples and trends (e.g., corrido-rap) but the process of corrido development is clearly beyond the control of any emotional response other than the genre's own demiurgic compulsion to sing itself as it always has--without pretension of learning or any great regard for its own history but ever overflowing with the frothy experience of life."
Thanks again for your interest.
--Dan
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