Sep. 5, 2008 - Las Mañanitas
In some of the Spanish-speaking world, you will hear the familiar tune of our English birthday song, with the simple lyrics translated. But there are other traditional birthday songs that are popular as well, In Mexico and much of Latin America, you will hear "Las Mañanitas". Let's learn it!
Estas son las mañanitas que cantaba el Rey David,
Hoy por ser el día de tu santo, te las cantamos a ti.
Despierta mi bien, despierta, mira que ya amanecío,
Ya los pajarillos cantan, la luna ya se metío.
This is the morning song that King David sang,
Because it's your saint's day, we're singing it for you.
Wake up my dear, wake up, look it is already dawn,
The birds are already singing and the moon has set.
A couple of notes: traditionally some celebrated a child's saint's day instead of their actual birthday, hence the reference to the saint's day. This song was originally a morning serenade, but is now sung right before blowing out the candles on the cake.
Let's put these words to music and hear how they sound:
Estas son las mañanitas que cantaba el Rey David,
Hoy por ser el día de tu santo, te las cantamos a ti.
Despierta mi bien, despierta, mira que ya amanecío,
Ya los pajarillos cantan, la luna ya se metío.
This is the morning song that King David sang,
Because it's your saint's day, we're singing it for you.
Wake up my dear, wake up, look it is already dawn,
The birds are already singing and the moon has set.
A couple of notes: traditionally some celebrated a child's saint's day instead of their actual birthday, hence the reference to the saint's day. This song was originally a morning serenade, but is now sung right before blowing out the candles on the cake.
Let's put these words to music and hear how they sound:
