Mariachi Lyrics Archive

Yo Tenía Mi Cascabel

He traded his bell for a kiss and his heart for love. Yo Tenía Mi Cascabel is a gentle song about everything we give away willingly.

About the Song

Yo Tenía Mi Cascabel is a traditional Mexican children's folk song with roots in the villancico and copla traditions brought from Spain and transformed in the New World. The cascabel — a small jingle bell or rattle — is a beloved image in Mexican folk and children's music, and the playful structure of giving away precious things for love appears throughout the folk repertoire. Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán's recording brings dignified mariachi treatment to what is often considered a children's song, revealing its deeper emotional resonance as a song about the small sacrifices love demands.

Meaning of the Song

Yo Tenía Mi Cascabel is about giving everything away for love, one small treasure at a time. A bell, a heart in a wafer-box — these are tiny and enormous things at once. The loss isn't tragic; it's tender. You gave it willingly, for a kiss, because that kiss was worth more. The song's gentle repetition is the sound of someone taking happy inventory of what love has cost them and finding the price entirely fair.

Lyrics / Letra

Yo tenía mi cascabel, con una cinta morada
Con una cinta morada yo tenía mi cascabel

Y como era de oropel
Y como era de oropel se lo di a mi prenda amada pa' que
Jugará con el

Ay como rezumba y suena
Ay como rezumba y suena
Rezumba y va rezumbando
Rezumba y va rezumbando
Mi cascabel en la arena

Anoche por la ventana
Platicando con Leonor
Platicando con Leonor
Anoche por la ventana

Me pidió que le contara Cascabel por menor
Y que no metí la tara
Me lo pedía del favor

Ay como rezumba y suena Rezumba y va rezumbando Rezumba y va rezumbando Mi cascabel en la arena

Ay mi cascabel…
Ay como rezumba y suena
Yo tenía mi cascabel
Ay mi cascabel
Yo tenía mi cascabel
Ay mi cascabel
Ay como rezumba y suena
Yo tenía mi cascabel

Ay como rezumba y suena y suena su canto rezumba y va rezumbando
Mi cascabel

English Translation

I had my little bell
that rang so beautifully
but I gave it to my darling
for a kiss of their love

I had my little bell
that rang so beautifully
but I gave it to my darling
for a kiss of their love

My little bell, my little bell
I no longer have it
my darling took it away

My little bell, my little bell
I no longer have it
my darling took it away

I had a wafer-seller
who in his wafer-box carried
a true heart
that he showed to everyone

I had a wafer-seller
who in his wafer-box carried
a true heart
that he showed to everyone

My wafer-seller
My wafer-seller
I no longer have him
my love took him away