Background Information: Shawn Barnes is a Junior at college, and his family is Mexican on his mother’s side. I interviewed him about a Spanish lullaby that he remembers his mother singing to him at night as a child.
Original (Spanish):
“A la roro niño
A lo roro ya
Duérmete mi niño
Duérmete mi amor.
Este niño lindo
Que nació de mañana,
Quiere que lo lleven
A pasear en carcacha.
Este niño lindo
Que nació de día
Quiere que lo lleven
A la dulcería
Este niño
Que nació de noche
Quiere que lo lleven
A pasear en coche.
Este niño lindo
Se quiere dormir,
Y el pícaro sueño
No quiere venir.
Este niño lindo
Que nació de noche
Quiere que lo lleven
A pasear en coche.”
Translation:
“Lullaby baby
Lullaby now.
Sleep my baby,
Sleep my love.
This pretty baby
Who was born in the morning,
Wants to be taken
For a jalopy ride.
This sweet baby
Who was born during the day,
Wants to be taken
To the candy shop.
This pretty baby
Who was born at night,
Wants to be taken
For a stroller ride.
This pretty baby
Wants to sleep
But the naughty sleep
Doesn’t want to come.
This pretty baby
Who was born at night,
Wants to be taken
For a stroller ride.
Shawn: “So, it’s a way to like, put a child to sleep and then say all these good things about them. And then oftentimes my mom would like to rush it a little bit, because I’d go like, ‘Mom can you sing “La Roro”, and so she’d just like rush through one verse and say ‘se acabó’, or like “it’s over, go to sleep.” But like, I still remember her tucking me in and it was sort of a cute thing.”
Thoughts: Lullabies are interesting, and I have found that they often stick in people’s memories, even if it is in a vague form, perhaps because they are repetitive and musical. This lullaby seems to be meant for encouraging a child to go to sleep, while also showing the child love and talking about sweet and pleasant things. Perhaps this is an attempt to ensure pleasant dreams for the child as well.