Lila Downs is a Mexican singer who mixes traditional music from different parts of Mexico with more modern sounds. Her 2006 album La Cantina received good reviews and sold in several countries including the United States. Nevertheless, there was no record of the lyrics to this song anywhere on the web before they appeared here on this page, with the accompanying English translation.
The Lightning (El Relámpago)
Lila Downs
Lightning in the wind
Carries quite a charge
(x2)
Love me totally
If you will, just for me
(x2)
Lightning keeps on striking
And the morning star does not appear
(x2)
Love me totally
Because it is not dawn here
(x2)
I will go now because it is dawn
And the roosters are crowing
(x2)
I don’t want them to know me
Or see me with you
(x2)
Relámpago en el viento
Trae mucha electricidad
(x2)
Acabáme de querer
Si me tienes voluntad
(x2)
Ya viene relampagueando
Y el lucero no aparece
(x2)
Ya acabáme de querer
Porque aquí no se amanece
(x2)
Ya me voy porque amanece
Y ya los gallos menudean
(x2)
No quiero que me conozcan
Ni contigo que me vean
(x2)
It is, of course, logical to assume that the word in this context refers to crowing. This sense of the word could possibly fall under two of the definitions given in the dictionary: one definition refers to doing something repetitively– the crowing of the roosters is indeed repetitive. Another definition refers to selling things at a bargain price– which, by connection, could involve loudly calling out those prices to passers-by. In this sense we could imagine the rooster metaphorically as a street seller– “Come one, come all, get your sunshine! All the morning you could need, and its all free!”