Silly song | Mamma,/ I want to be made of silver

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by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936)

Translation © by Jennifer Capaldo

Canción tonta

Language: Spanish (Español)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Mamá,
yo quiero ser de plata.
Hijo, 
tendrás mucho frío.
Mamá. 
Yo quiero ser de agua.
Hijo, 
tendrás mucho frío.
Mamá. 
Bórdarme en tu almohada.
¡Eso sí! 
¡Ahora mismo!

Text Authorship:

by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936), "Canción tonta", appears in Canciones, in Canciones para niños, first published 1921-4 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Luis Manuel Alvarez (b. 1939), "Canción tonta", 1962 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Bruce Christian Bennett (b. 1968), "Canción tonta", 1988 [ soprano, clarinet, guitar, harpsichord, five-string viola (or violin or viola), violoncello ], from Five Spanish Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Xavier Montsalvatge (1912 - 2002), "Canción tonta", 1953, published 1953 [ voice and piano ], from Canciones para niños, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Silvestre Revueltas (1899 - 1940), "Canción tonta", R 69 no. 3, ISR 2 no. 3 (1939), orchestrated 1969 [ medium voice and piano or instrumental ensemble ], from Cinco canciones para niños y dos canciones profanas, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Alicia Terzián (b. 1934), "Canción tonta", 1956 [ medium voice and piano ], from Canciones para niños, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Jennifer Capaldo) , "Silly song", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chanson bête", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 29

Silly song

Language: English after the Spanish (Español)

Mamma,
I want to be made of silver.
Son,
you'll be very cold.
Mamma,
I want to be made of water.
Son,
you'll be very cold.
Mamma.
Embroider¹ me in your pillow.
Of course!
Right away!

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ To embroider his name â a special form of attention.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Spanish (Español) to English copyright © 2012 by Jennifer Capaldo, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Spanish (Español) by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936), "Canción tonta", appears in Canciones, in Canciones para niños, first published 1921-4
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2012-08-27
Line count: 12
Word count: 36