Liz wrote:
As a child staying in Spain with family friends, I remember learning a song about a sardine. I can remember that as part of the song it traveled over mountains. I can remember laughing so much with my best friend who was Spanish, about this sardine travelling over mountains.
Has anyone else got any recollection of such a song? If so I would like to hear about it and get the words and tune.
Thanks
Liz
If anyone can help out with this song, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
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18 Responses to “Does Anyone Know a Spanish Children’s Song about a Sardine Traveling Over Mountains?”
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June 18th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Hi Liz, here you have the song:
“Ahora que vamos despacio,
Ahora que vamos despacio,
Vamos a contar mentiras tralará,
Vamos a contar mentiras tralará,
Vamos a contar mentiras.
Por el mar corren los peces,
Por el mar corren los peces,
Por el monte las sardinas tralará,
Por el monte las sardinas tralará,
Por el monte las sardinas.
The song is much longer. Have a look this site http://www.pequenet.com/canciones/mentira.asp
Best luck,
Núria
June 18th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Gràcies Núria!
With your help, I found the full Spanish lyrics (I found the same lyrics from a couple of sources – though there seem to be different versions of this song):
I welcome improvements to my English translation! -Lisa
Ahora que vamos despacio
(Spanish)
Ahora que vamos despacio,
ahora que vamos despacio
vamos a contar mentiras,
¡tra-la-rá!,
vamos a contar mentiras.
Por el mar corren las liebres,
por el mar corren las liebres
por el monte las sardinas,
¡tra-la-rá!,
por el monte las sardinas.
Mi abuelo tenía un peral,
mi abuelo tenía un peral
criando ricas manzanas
¡tra-la-rá!,
criando ricas manzanas.
Cuando le tiraban piedras,
cuando le tiraban piedras
caían las avellanas
¡tra-la-rá!,
caían las avellanas.
Con el ruido de las nueces,
con el ruido de las nueces
salió el amo del manzano
¡tra-la-rá!,
salió el amo del manzano.
Chiquillos, no tiréis piedras,
chiquillos, no tiréis piedras
que no es mío el melonar
¡tra-la-rá!,
que no es mío el melonar.
Si me rompéis un pepino;
si me rompéis un pepino
os lo tendré que pagar
¡tra-la-rá!,
os lo tendré que pagar.
Now That We Go Slowly
(English)
Now that we go slowly,
Now that we go slowly,
We are going to count lies,
Tra-la-rá!
We are going to count lies.
The hares run by the sea,
The hares run by the sea,
The sardines by the mountain,
Tra-la-rá!
The sardines by the mountain.
My grandfathers had a pear tree,
My grandfathers had a pear tree,
Raising rich apples,
Tra-la-rá!
Raising rich apples.
When they threw stones to him,
When they threw stones to him
The hazelnuts fell,
Tra-la-rá!
The hazelnuts fell.
With the noise of the nuts,
The noise of the nuts,
The master of the apple tree left,
Tra-la-rá!
The master of the apple tree left.
Kids, you do not throw stones,
Kids, you do not throw stones,
That are not my melon plot,
Tra-la-rá!
That are not my melon plot.
If you break one of my cucumbers,
If you break one of my cucumbers,
I will have to pay you for it.
Tra-la-rá!
I will have to pay you for it.
(Thanks to Monique in the next comment – I made some corrections to the translation.)
June 19th, 2007 at 12:27 am
“si me rompéis un pepino” means “if you break a cucumber of mine/one of my cucumbers” and “Os lo tendré que pagar” means “I will have to pay you for it”.
Btw, “despacio” recalled me of a Spanish saying that goes: “Las cosas de palacio van despacio” = lit. “Palace things go slowly” = else “important things need time” or ironically about someone / something taking soooooooo much time (people, administration… )
June 19th, 2007 at 5:17 am
All those trees recalled me of a song we would sing when we were children. It went :
J’ me lève de bon matin (bis)
Quand le soleil se couche
Pom pom laricolala
Quand le soleil se couche
J’ m’en vais me promener (bis)
Au bord de la rivière
Pom pom laricolala
Au bord de la rivière
J’ rencontre un cerisier (bis)
Qui était couvert de prunes
Pom pom laricolala
Qui était couvert de prunes
J’ m’en vais pour le secouer …
Il en tomba des pommes…
J’ m’en vais pour les ramasser…
C’était des pommes de terre…
J’ m’en vais pour les manger…
Je mangeais des bananes…
Une abeille m’a piqué…
Au bout de mon oreille…
Tellement que ça saignait…
Il coulait du vinaigre…
J’ m’en vais chez l’ médecin…
J’enfonce la porte ouverte…
Je rentre dans la cuisine…
Cochon faisait sa soupe…
Je rentre dans la chambre…
Une vache en chemise…
Les rats dessous le lit
Jouaient de la guitare
Les mouches au plafond…
Qui se tordaient de rire…
Le docteur arriva…
Sur son petit tricycle…
which translates as :
I got up very early (twice)
When the sun was setting
Pom pom laricolala
When the sun was setting
I went for a walk (twice)
By the riverside
Pom pom laricolala
By the riverside
I came across a cherry tree
That was full of plums
Pom pom laricolala
That was full of plums
I went to shake it…
Some apples fell down from it…
I went to pick them up…
They were potatoes…
I was about to eat them…
I was eating bananas…
A bee stung me…
At the end of my ear…
It was bleeding so much…
Vinegar was running from it…
I went to the doctor’s…
I broke down the open door…
I went into the kitchen…
Piggy was cooking its soup…
I went into the bedroom…
A cow in its nightgown…
The rats under the bed
Were playing the guitar
The flies on the ceiling…
Were doubled up with laughter…
The doctor arrived…
On his small tricycle…
In French, nouns are gendered marked, pig is masculine and cow feminine -hence the nightgown.
We had the feeling that the song wasn’t complete but we didn’t know more than that. If you type “cerisier couvert de prunes” on Google, you’ll come across three slighlty different versions of it and those have a “real” end.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I remember this song too! But for the life of me I can’t remember the tune — does anyone know where I could find sheet music or an mp3 of it?
June 19th, 2007 at 11:44 am
If you mean the Spanish song, I think you can hear the tune at:
http://www.pequenet.com/canciones/mentira.asp
There’s also a simple score there.
Is that the one you’re looking for?
-Lisa
September 11th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Does anyone remember another Spanish version that spoke of a man (a soldier or a prisoner, I think) who had not eaten for 6 weeks? I pretty well remember this song from around 20 years ago. When I had a long car trip with my sisters and parents my mother would sing it to keep us from being bored, I remember singing it with her and laughing with that absolute happiness of children, the point of the sardine through the mountains and the changes in the trees, actually the whole point that you could tell lies and it not being wrong was very funny, I remember
February 16th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Just put “sali de mi campamento, con hambre de seis semanas” into Google and you’ll find a lot of sites with slightly different lyrics (some haven’t eaten for 6 weeks, but some haven’t for only 3 weeks!)
March 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
The line that says,
When they threw stones to him, should read, When they threw stones at it.
And the line that says,The master of the apple tree left, should be The master of the apple tree appeared
Finally, That are not my melon plot, should be This is not my melon plot.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
The line that says,
When they threw stones to him, should read, When they threw stones at it.
And the line that says,The master of the apple tree left, should be The master of the apple tree appeared
Finally, That are not my melon plot, should be This is not my melon plot.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:22 am
ahora ue estamos solitos
vamos a contar mentiras ay ay ay
Por el mar corre la liebre
por el monte las sardinas ay ay ay ay
Sai de un campamento
con hambre de tres semanas ay ay ay
me encontre con un ciruello
cargadito de manzanas ay ay ay
empeze tirarle piedras
y caian abellanas ay ay ay
estando tirando piedras
salio el dueno del peral ay ay ay
to tireis piedras chiquillo
que no es mio el melonar ay ay ay
es de una probre paciega
buenas naranjas le dan ay ay ay
Si quieres tozino frito
acabado de pescar ay ay ay
acaba de pescar ay ay ay
acabado de pescar
Y aqui termina la historia
Y aqui termina la historia
de este pobre militar ay ay ay
de este pobre militar ay ay ay
de este pobre militar
que empezo a contar mentiras
que empezo a cantar mentiras
y no pudo terminar ay ay ay
y no pudo pudo terminar ay ay ay
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar
y no pudo terminar………………………………………………
May 27th, 2009 at 2:35 am
SORRY FOR THE SPELLING. Let me know If this is the version of the song that you remmember. From infancy, my dad sang me this song and other songs too.
Remmeber this one?
Vamos a cantar ire
de una historia de una nina
que cautivaron los moros
el los campos de Melilla
Cinco ano apenas tenia
…..
Does anyone know all the lyrics?
May 27th, 2009 at 2:49 am
No that we are alone together
Let’s lie to each other and tell stories that are lies
In the sea the hare run
in the forerrest the sardine swim
I am a soldier that left my encampmet
with siix weeks without food
I came across a plum tree
filled with apples
I threw stones at it
and and filberts fell to to the floor
while I was throwing stones at it
the owner of that pear tree came out and said
Dont throw rocks young my man
That is not my Melon patch
It belongs to an old woman
She gets good oranges from the tree
If you want some fried bacon
Fresh fished from the ocean.
And this is the end of the story a this poor soldier
Who started to tell lies
who started to sing lies
and could not never finish his song
and could never finish his story
May 27th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Gallego, there are the lyrics you’re looking for (among many others)
May 27th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Thanks Monique!
Lyrics in that version are different though. I’ve notices that there are different version of these old songs. Wonder why.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Because it was only oral transmission and there was no set version, people would adapt the songs to their own surroundings or would forget a word and sing another, swap verses or add a new one. This is why there isn’t such a thing as “the true version” “the correct lyrics”… about anonymous traditional songs, there are only “most known versions”.
December 5th, 2009 at 3:25 am
In 1986 we were living in Madrid
and my son had a “casette” called “BARBAPAPA” and his -I should have say “our”-favorite song was:”Vamos a contar mentiras” We live in Chile and we still sing it with our grandchildren .
July 14th, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Can anyone help with the following question we received?
“I love your website and I think the work that you are doing is so important.
My great grandmother and my grandmother immigrated here from Spain when my grandmother was a little girl.
When I was a baby my great grandmother used to sing a little song to me. It was sing-songy, and I only remember the first line phonetically. It sounded like she was singing “La chuca la palma” as the first line. There only four lines to the song so it was more like a little nursery rhyme than a true song.
While she sang it I would sit facing her with my hand out and my Palm up. She would use her index finger to circle my Palm and on the last line of the song she would gently slap my whole palm. And kiss it for good measure.
Both she and my grandmother have since passed away and there is no one else to ask. I just had my own little girl and I’d love to keep the tradition alive by singing it to her. Can you please help me? It would mean so much.”
Thank you,
Angela