Cielito Lindo, written by Mexican composer Quirino Mendoza y Cortés, is one of the best-known ballads in the Spanish language and the unofficial second national anthem of Mexico. Click here to hear one recording of the song. There have been hundreds of recordings by hundreds of different artists and plenty of variations on the original theme.
Below are a listing of the lyrics and an English translation. Note that only the first two stanzas and the chorus are widely known and sung. I have also encountered five other stanzas which have come to be associated with the song, some of them probably innovations introduced by people other than the composer while they were serenading their sweethearts.
The metaphor in the first verse originated in traditional Andalusian folk music. The Sierra Morena in old times was a notorious hide-out for gypsies and thieves, who would descend on hapless travellers and take everything they owned. So the two dark eyes of a girl are coming down from the mahogany mountains of her hair, ready to steal a man’s heart.
This first verse is also probably the cause of most of the controversy over the song’s origin, as similar words appear in a number of Spanish songs and music from other parts of Latin America.
You may also be interested in this entry related to the song, or Cielito Lindo haiku.
Coming down from the brunette mountains
Are two dark eyes like robbers,
Pretty little sky
The mole you have beside your mouth
Do not give it to anyone, for it touches me,
Pretty little sky.
Ay, ay, ay ay
Sing and do not cry
For singing makes hearts happy
Pretty little sky
* * *
From your house to mine is just a step
Give me a hug, we are alone now,
Pretty little sky
An arrow in the air, shot by cupid
He was playing, but he has wounded me
Pretty little sky.
If your little mouth were made of sugar
I would eat it, lick by lick
Pretty little sky
A bird that leaves its first nest behind
If it later finds it occupied, serves it right
Pretty little sky
I like brown women since I can remember
Brown the like Virgin of Guadalupe
Pretty little sky
De la sierra morena, cielito lindo, vienen bajando
Un par de ojitos negros, cielito lindo, del contrabando
Ese lunar que tienes, cielito lindo, junto a la boca
No se lo des a nadie, cielito lindo, que a mi me toca
Chorus:
Ay, ay, ay ay, canta y no llores
Por que cantando se alegran, cielito lindo, los corazones
* * *
De tu casa a la mia, cielito lindo, no hay mas que un paso
Ahora que estamos solos, cielito lindo, dame un abrazo
Una flecha en el aire, cielito lindo, tiró cupido
Y como fue jugando, cielito lindo, yo fui el herido.
Si tu boquita morena, cielito lindo, fuera de azucar
Yo me lo pasaría, cielito lindo, chupa que chupa
Pájaro que abandona, cielito lindo, su primer nido
Si lo encuentra ocupado, cielito lindo, bien merecido.
A mi me gustan morenas, cielito lindo, desde que supe
Que morena es la virgen, cielito lindo, de Guadalupe.