In response to my wondering about whether Mariachi play at funerals a Mexican friend confirms that they do and tells me that THE funeral song is Las Golondrinas (The Swallows). It’s the song by which Mexicans say goodbye.
Wikipedia tells me that the song was written in 1862 by a Mexican doctor, Narciso Serradell Sevilla, while exiled in France. It has become the song of exiled Mexicans longing for their homeland–just like the migrating swallow. I’ve found an English translation, which is below.
Many people, including Nat King Cole and Placido Domingo, have covered the song, and the Nat King Cole version, which has full Mariachi backing, is wonderfully evocative–and high on the list for my funeral.
I’ve discovered too that the tune has been used for She Wears My Ring, which has been recorded by Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. This is a love song that includes the words “She wears my ring to show the world she’s mine eternally.” (The full lyrics are below.) How interesting that English speakers should create a love song from a Mexican song of exile and loss.
I’ll need some jazz at my funeral (as well as Bach and Schubert, it’s going to be long), and I’ve always loved the image of the New Orleans bands that play slow, mournful music on the way to the graveyard and fast, joyful music on the way home.
What, I wonder, is the Mariachi song to follow Las Golondrinas?
The Swallow (Las Golindras)
Where can it go
rushed and fatigued
the swallow
passing by
tossed by the wind
looking so lost
with nowhere to hide.
By my bed
I’ll put your nest
until the season passes.
I too, O heaven!
am lost in this place
unable to fly.
Leave, too
my beloved homeland,
that home
that saw my birth.
My life today
is wandering, anguished.
I cannot
return home.
Dearest bird
beloved pilgrim,
my heart
nigh to yours;
remember
tender swallow,
remember
my homeland and cry.
She Wears My Ring
She wears my ring to show the world that she belongs to me
She wears my ring to show the world she’s mine eternally
With loving care I placed it on her finger
To show my love for all the world to see
This tiny ring is a token of tender emotion
An endless pool of love that’s as deep as the ocean
She swears to wear it with eternal devotion
That’s why I sing, because she wears my ring
She swears to wear it with eternal devotion
That’s why I sing, because she wears my ring
This tiny ring is a token of tender emotion
An endless pool of love that’s as deep as the ocean
She swears to wear it with eternal devotion
That’s why I sing, because she wears my ring
That’s why I sing, because she wears my ring
Richard Smith's non-medical blogs 