Ya murió la cucaracha.
Y la llevan a enterrar
Entre cuatro zopilotes
Y un ratón de sacristán.
The cockroach just died,
And they carried him off to bury him
Among four buzzards
And the sexton's mouse.
La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
Ya no puede caminar;
Porque no tiene, porque le falta,
Marijuana que fumar.
La cucaracha, that little cockroach,
Now he can't go travelling;
Beause he doesn't have, because he lacks,
Marijuana to smoke.
La Cucaracha is a fun, lively song that has multiple levels
of meaning.
Numerous variants exist, with many more verses than are shown here.
Several popular variants allude to smoking marijuana,
and the title indicates a reference to a cockroach (thus, a reefer roach).
However, it is most often understood that the term cockroach refers to
two things:
Pancho Villa's vehicle, and a code name for a soldadera (female revolutionary).