Mariachi Lyrics Archive
Cucurrucucú Paloma
He died of love and came back as a dove, still crying at her window. Cucurrucucú Paloma is Mexico's most beautiful ghost story.
About the Song
Cucurrucucú Paloma is one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs in the Mexican bolero ranchero canon, written by Tomás Méndez in 1954. It tells the story of a man who died of love — literally — and whose soul returned as a dove, crying outside the window of the woman who destroyed him. The song gained international recognition through countless interpretations, most famously by Caetano Veloso in Pedro Almodóvar's film Talk to Her (2002). It stands as one of the great expressions of amor hasta la muerte — love unto death — in all of Latin American music.
Meaning of the Song
Cucurrucucú Paloma is a ghost story that is also a love song. A man wept himself to death and came back as a dove, still singing at her window, still unable to leave. The stones will never know what it is to love — that line is the entire song. Love this extreme is its own punishment, its own miracle. Las Almas and Mariachi Nuevo Real carry this classic with the weight it deserves: every cucurrucucú is a sob, every note a soul that refuses to depart.
Lyrics / Letra
Cucurrucucu
Cucurrucucu
Cucurrucucu
Dicen que por las noches
No mas se le iba en puro llorar
Dicen que no dormía
No mas se le iba en puro tomar
Juran que el mismo cielo
Se estremecía al oír su llanto
Cómo sufrió por ella que hasta en su muerte
La fué llamando
ay, ay, ay, ay, cantaba
ay, ay, ay, ay, gemía
ay, ay, ay, ay, cantaba de pasión mortal moría
Que una paloma triste
muy de mañana le va a cantar
a la casita sola
con sus puertitas de par en par
al jurar que esa paloma no es otra cosa
más que su alma
que todavía la espera
a que regrese la desdichada
Cucurucucu Paloma
Cucurucucu no llores
Las piedras jamás, paloma
Qué van a saber de amores
Cucurrucucu, Cucurrucucu
Cucurrucucu Paloma ya no le llores
Cucurrucucu
Cucurrucucu
Dicen que por las noches
No mas se le iba en puro llorar
Dicen que no dormía
No mas se le iba en puro tomar
Juran que el mismo cielo
Se estremecía al oír su llanto
Cómo sufrió por ella que hasta en su muerte
La fué llamando
ay, ay, ay, ay, cantaba
ay, ay, ay, ay, gemía
ay, ay, ay, ay, cantaba de pasión mortal moría
Que una paloma triste
muy de mañana le va a cantar
a la casita sola
con sus puertitas de par en par
al jurar que esa paloma no es otra cosa
más que su alma
que todavía la espera
a que regrese la desdichada
Cucurucucu Paloma
Cucurucucu no llores
Las piedras jamás, paloma
Qué van a saber de amores
Cucurrucucu, Cucurrucucu
Cucurrucucu Paloma ya no le llores
English Translation
They say at night
he did nothing but cry
They say he didn't eat
did nothing but drink
They swear that the very sky
trembled hearing his weeping
How he suffered for her
that even in his death he called for her
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay
he would sing
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay
he would moan
Ay, dove, ay
Ay, dove, ay
That from his soul he begged her
To return to his arms and between moans
he said that the love of his life
would never abandon him again
That a sad dove
very early in the morning would come to sing to him
To his distant house
with its doors wide open
They swear that that dove
is nothing other than his soul
That still waits for her
for the wretched one to return
Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú
dove, cry no more
Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú
dove, cry no more
The stones will never, dove
know what it is
to love
The stones will never, dove
know what it is
to love
he did nothing but cry
They say he didn't eat
did nothing but drink
They swear that the very sky
trembled hearing his weeping
How he suffered for her
that even in his death he called for her
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay
he would sing
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay
he would moan
Ay, dove, ay
Ay, dove, ay
That from his soul he begged her
To return to his arms and between moans
he said that the love of his life
would never abandon him again
That a sad dove
very early in the morning would come to sing to him
To his distant house
with its doors wide open
They swear that that dove
is nothing other than his soul
That still waits for her
for the wretched one to return
Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú
dove, cry no more
Cucurrucucú, cucurrucucú
dove, cry no more
The stones will never, dove
know what it is
to love
The stones will never, dove
know what it is
to love
