"Cucurrucucú paloma" (Spanish for ''Coo-coo dove'') is a Mexican
huapango
is a family of Mexican music styles. The word likely derives from the Nahuatl word that literally means 'on top of the wood', alluding to a wooden platform on which dancers perform dance steps. It is interpreted in different forms, the most ...
-style song written by
Tomás Méndez in 1954.
[ The title is an onomatopeic reference to the characteristic call of the ]mourning dove
The mourning dove (''Zenaida macroura'') is a member of the dove Family (biology), family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, the chueybird, colloquially as the turtle dove, and it was once known a ...
, which is evoked in the refrain. The lyrics allude to love sickness.
Over the years the song has been used in the soundtrack of several films and has gained international popularity. It initially appeared in the classic Mexican comedy ''Escuela de vagabundos
''School for Tramps'' (Spanish: ''Escuela de vagabundos'') is a 1955 Mexican comedy film. It was produced by Fernando de Fuentes. It's considered one of the finest comedies of Mexican cinema, and is adapted from the screenplay for the MGM movie ...
''[ screened in 1955, where it was sung by the star of the film, ]Pedro Infante
Pedro Infante Cruz (; 18 November 1917 – 15 April 1957) was a Mexican ranchera singer and actor whose career spanned the golden age of Mexican cinema.
Infante was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and raised in nearby Guamúchil. He died on 15 Apri ...
. The song also gave its name to the 1965 Mexican film '' Cucurrucucú Paloma'', directed by Miguel Delgado, in which it was performed by Lola Beltrán, who starred as "Paloma Méndez".
In Pedro Almodovar's film '' Talk to Her'' (2002) the piece is rendered by the Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...
in an art-song style quite different from the mariachi
Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...
folk-kitsch
''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste.
The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...
of its original cinema presentation.Moonlight
Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes.
History
The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras was aware that "''the sun provides the moon with its ...
''.
Since its first release on record in 1956 in a version sung by Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...
, the song has been recorded by various other popular singers, including Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (; born 19 April 1970) is a Mexican singer and record producer. Born in Puerto Rico to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, he is often referred to as Honorific nicknames in popular music, ''El Sol de Mexico'' ...
, Rocío Dúrcal
María de los Ángeles de las Heras Ortiz (4 October 1944 – 25 March 2006), better known as Rocío Dúrcal (), was a Spanish singer and actress with a career spanning more than four decades. She performed pop music, bolero, mariachi and romanti ...
, Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...
, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Nancy Ames, Hibari Misora
was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posth ...
, Gaby Moreno, Nana Mouskouri
Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( ; born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career, she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek language, Greek, French language, French, ...
, Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top List of best-selling music artists, reco ...
, Shirley Kwan, Lila Downs, Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...
(on her album '' Gracias a la Vida''), Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccin ...
, Natalia Lafourcade
María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (; born 26 February 1984) is a Mexican singer and songwriter who performs in genres such as pop rock, jazz, and folk music. Since her debut in 2002, she has been one of the most influential singers in Latin Americ ...
, and The Del Rubio Triplets; the refrain was also taken up by Franco Battiato
Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs explore many themes (including, but not limited to, ph ...
in his own song " Cuccurucucù" (on '' La voce del padrone'').
In 2019, operatic tenor Juan Diego Florez sang the song, accompanying himself on guitar at La Scala
La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...
in Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, in a version appearing in a YouTube video that has been viewed 17 million times.[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cucurrucucu Paloma
Songs in Spanish