by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
El vito
Language: Spanish (Español)
Our translations: ENG FRE
Una vieja vale un real
y una muchacha dos cuartos,
y yo, como soy tan pobre
me voy a lo más barato.
Con el vito, vito, vito,
con el vito, vito, va.
No me haga 'usté' cosquillas,
que me pongo 'colorá'.
No me mires¡ ay! chiquilla,
que me voy desmoroná.
Cuatro curas, se la llevan
se la llevan a enterrar.
Cuatro curas se la llevan
con el vito, vito, va.
Se la llevan y es mi suegra.
¡Ay! ¡la risa que me dá!
Con el vito, vito, vito.
¡Ay! que no la veré más!
J. Nin sets stanzas 1, 2 (lines 1-4)
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Note for line 7: "usté" is short for "usted"
Text Authorship:
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Ted Perry , Guy Laffaille
[Guest Editor] , Laura Stanfield Prichard
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 95
Language: English after the Spanish (Español)
An old woman is worth a real
and a young girl two cuartos,
and I, you know, I’m so poor
I’m going for the cheapest.
With the vito, vito, vito,
with the vito, vito, it goes.
Don’t you tickle me,
I’ll turn ‘red’.
Don't look at me, oh, little girl
I'm going to fall apart.
Four priests take a woman
they take her to be buried.
Four priests take her
with the vito, vito, it goes.
They take her and I see it's my mother-in-law.
Oh! It makes me laugh!
With the vito, vito, vito.
Oh! I'll see her no more!
Subtitle: "Canción popular. Madrid "
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Translator's notes
Line 1-1: real, plural reales are silver coins first minted under King Pedro I of Castile (1300s); the value of the real devalued steadily over time. After the discovery of silver in the New World (1500s), the silver 8-real coin (variously called the dollar, silver peso, and piece-of-eight) became a standard. By 1868, the real was retired when the pesata was introduced (1 dollar = 20 Reales = 5 pesetas).
Line 1-2: The first "cuarto" (1/4 real) was struck in Mexico City in 1794. Silver coins in the Spanish colonies of this value were also called cuartillos.
Line 2-1: "vito" - This can be a nonsense word and/or can refer to traditional Andalusian dance songs. “El vito”, named for St. Vitus in the 19th century, is a fast triple-time song usually performed by women, with ascending harmonic minor phrases and descending phrygian mode phrases.
Line 2-4: "colorá" is short for colorado, meaning red; it can be a poetic was to refer to blushing, but modern Spanish prefers the word “ruborizado”
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Spanish (Español) to English copyright © 2020 by Laura Stanfield Prichard, (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.
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Based on:
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This text was added to the website: 2019-12-31
Line count: 18
Word count: 107
