The Carnival in Brazil is held during the days before Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent.
Here’s a Brazilian folk song about the Carnival called Mama Paquita. James sent this song in English…
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita, Mama Paquita,
Mama Paquita, buy your baby a papaya
A ripe papaya and a banana,
A ripe papaya that your baby will enjoy, ma-ma-ma-ma,
Mama Paquita, Mama Paquita,
Mama Paquita says, “I haven’t any money
To buy papayas and ripe bananas,
Let’s go to Carnival and dance the night away!”Mama Paquita, Mama Paquita,
Mama Paquita, buy your baby some pajamas,
A new pajamas, and a sombrero,
A new sombrero that your baby will enjoy, ma-ma-ma-ma,
Mama Paquita, Mama Paquita,
Mama Paquita says, “I haven’t any money
To buy pajamas, and a sombrero,
Let’s go to Carnival and dance the night away!”
Many thanks to James for sending Mama Paquita!
If anyone knows the original version of this song, any other versions of it, or if you can send a recording or a midi, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Brazil Page for Brazilian Children’s Songs and Rhymes.
This article was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 11:25 pm and is filed under Brazil, Brazilian Folk Songs, Carnival, Carnival Songs, Countries & Cultures, Folk Songs, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Mama Paquita, Mama Paquita. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
26 Responses to ““Mama Paquita” a Brazilian Carnival Song”
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February 18th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Here’s another version of Mama Paquita…
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Buy your baby a papaya
A ripe papaya and a banana
A ripe banana that your
Baby will enjoy.
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Says I haven’t any money
To buy papayas and ripe bananas
Let’s go to carnival
And dance the night away.
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Buy your baby some pajamas
Some new pajamas
A yellow blanket,
A yellow blanket that your baby will enjoy.
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Mama Paquita
Says I haven’t any money
To buy pajamas, a yellow blanket
Let’s go to carnival and
Dance the night away.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Is there music that accompanies Mama Paquita
January 24th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/FineArt/Core_Curriculum/General/songbook/MamaPaquita.PDF
here’s the sheet music
January 24th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Thank you! That helped us figure out more about this song.
Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français created a midi for us to hear the tune:
Midi Tune of Mama Paquita
Once Monique heard the tune, she recognized it as a Spanish song her mother used to sing to her with the line “Mamá yo quiero”.
Monique wrote, “I found it here:
http://www.tatianamusic.com/Lyrics/Matecana.txt
It seems that the original version in Portuguese is this one:
http://br.geocities.com/bommotivobar/Musicas/Mamaeeuquero.htm or
http://cifraantiga.v10.com.br/Letras_19/mamae_eu_quero.htm ”
So it looks like Mama Paquita might come from the Brazilian song called “Mamãe Eu Quero” (Mother I Want).
September 9th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
“Mama Paquita” is totally bogus!! It’s found in common music classroom books [Silver-Burdett???] but is only half the song and is poorly translated into Castillian.
Mamae Eu Quero – “I want my Mommy” is the stereotypical Carnival Song in Brasil and “Mama paquita” should be trashed as one of multiculturalism’s biggest music misses.
The posting above which cites: http://cifraantiga.v10.com.br/Letras_19/mamae_eu_quero.htm is spot on target.
Mamae eu quero – Mamae eu quero
Mamae eu quero mamar
Da a chupeta – da a chupeta
da a chupeta pro bebe nao chorar
Dorme filhinho do meu coracao
Pega a mamadeira
a vem entrar no meu cordao
Eu tenho uma irma
que se chama Ana
de tanto piscar o olho
ja ficou sem a pestana
September 9th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Mamãe Eu Quero translates as Mama or Mommy I Want (it goes on to say Mama I want to be fed).
Carmen Miranda sang this song. You can download it and hear most of it sung on her official web site at…
Carmen Miranda’s Mamãe Eu Quero
I wonder if Mama Paquita was inspired by Carmen Miranda singing Mamãe Eu Quero – they both have the same tune – Mama Paquita dancing with the bananas and papayas, makes me think of Carmen Miranda with the fruit on her head!
-Mama Lisa
September 9th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
The problem is this: the song was written in Brazil in 1936 by a Brazilian named Jararaca. It was written in Portuguese [Falando Brasileiro]. Its so called English and Spanish lyrics have nothing to do with the original carnival song that all Brazilians know by heart. “Mama Paquita” is a rip-off of “Mamãe Eu Quero” and is pure laziness. It is only found in monolingual America.
There are 1000s of authentic children’s songs from Brazil – why use a bogus song which has been cut in half and “translated?” into two other languages instead of using real children’s music from Brazil and IN PORTUGUESE??
By the way, the midi melody supplied at this site has several note errors…….AND it is only HALF of the song. The song’s first verse, which starts, “Dorme filhinho do meu coracao” is not even included, nor have I ever seen the whole song in an American song book – especially those used in schools. “Mama Paquita” is simply the refrain of a longer song with several verses called “Mamãe Eu Quero”. “Mama Paquita” is a fake!
Carmen Miranda did sing the song, even though she was actually born in Portugal, immigrated to Brazil and lived half of her life in the USA. The fact is, everyone knows this song in Brazil. “Mamãe Eu Quero” was written in 1936 and Carmen Miranda came to the USA in 1939. She made a career singing the popular songs of Brazil, but she never sang “Mama Paquita” – she sang “Mamãe Eu Quero” in Portuguese NOT English or Spanish.
Please, translate the lyrics below and you’ll see they have nothing to do with fruit and Carmen Miranda’s hat. It’s about baby bottles, pacifiers, has a piece of a lullaby and mentions a little sister named Ana who blinks her eyes so much that her eye lashes fall out ………… no fruit!
“Mamãe Eu Quero”
Mamae eu quero – Mamae eu quero
Mamae eu quero mamar
Da a chupeta – da a chupeta
da a chupeta pro bebe nao chorar
Dorme filhinho do meu coracao
Pega a mamadeira
a vem entrar no meu cordao
Eu tenho uma irma
que se chama Ana
de tanto piscar o olho
ja ficou sem a pestana
Please, read it for yourself: [this site is from Brazil]
http://cifraantiga.v10.com.br/Letras_19/mamae_eu_quero.htm
September 10th, 2007 at 11:24 am
We do have some children’s songs from Brazil. You can click the link to see the page.
If anyone would like to send in an authentic Brazilian Carnival song for children, I’d love to post one! I’m also always happy to add more Brazilian songs to our Brazilian pages. If anyone would ever like to sing one of the songs, or play one on an instrument, I can post an mp3 too.
-Mama Lisa
May 11th, 2009 at 3:15 am
Hi I wondered if you have the music on MP3 so that I can download it and save to my PC as i am hoping to do this song with some children.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Gar, why are you so uptight about this song? The kids love it, so why not just enjoy it?
April 10th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
i love it its good and smooth
September 26th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Gary needs to take a chill pill.
September 28th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
OMG, Gary is right hehe, stop trying to change Brazilians songs to a garbage thing-.-
September 29th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
You can hear a clip of this song at:
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,3352604-7206732,00.html
#15
January 20th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I’m almost 30 years old and I remember that I used to sing this crazy song when I was about SEVEN in elementary school in Missouri! I remembered sitting in the backseat of the car singing the “Ma-ma-ma-ma” part over and over again and the junk about the bananas and papayas until my mom would yell at me to knock it off!!!! HA!!
February 14th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Where can I find Sheet music to learn Mamãe Eu Quero, not Mama Paquita. My sister and I wish to play it in the styl of Chico and Harpo for a family skit. Thoughts? I have looked all over the place and can only find the very basic notes for Mama Paquita.
February 14th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Try the link below Whitney…
http://www.zilahi.com.br/mama.pdf
October 26th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
É verdade@ Gary, a música Mamãe eu Quero, é a verdadeira.
Your post is wrong Lisa.
October 30th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
@Vania – I think it’s clear there are two different songs being talked about here. This has been laid out in the comments. But even if the English song was not from real Brazilian lyrics, some people grew up singing it. It’s still a part of their childhood that they’d like to recapture. There’s no arguing about that.
November 2nd, 2011 at 7:32 pm
Why are you all so uptight? It is just a stupid song. GET OVER IT!!! So what if you don’t like it? Don’t listen to it then. DUH!!!
September 15th, 2012 at 9:59 am
I totally sang this apparently bastardized version of the song when I was little, and I LOVED it. I think we sang it as “Mama Makita”. Obviously not authentic by any means but we sang it and had a great time and it brings back wonderful memories, so where’s the harm?
:-)
Sing and be happy, eh?
November 1st, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Goodness me! Not too sure why this little song is causing the stir it is, but if Gary and others logic plays through, then I guess we had all better stop singing, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” because clearly, those are not the words to the little diddy that Mozart wrote… and he never intended it to be the “Alphabet Song” either. Come on already people, “Mama Paquita” is cute and funny and the kids love it, so is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Lyrics have been written and rewritten for catchy little tunes for like forever, so enjoy them… and buy your baby a papaya.
October 24th, 2018 at 3:03 am
mama pasita
mama pasita has no money for papaya
no ripe papayas
so go to carnival to laugh and dance and sing
ohhh ma ma ma ma pasita
August 28th, 2019 at 12:06 am
MUSIC FOR IT HERE! Mama Lisa… HA! Wow! YES, sang this in public elementary school in the 70’s (from the public school system music book, with the original lyrics that you posted). Thank you for posting this! I can now prove to my wife that this is indeed a song, LOL! Great fun memory as a kid. Music here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1at4kQ7hgt4
May 21st, 2020 at 10:15 pm
Learned this song in elementary music class in the mid-70s, but it was called “Mamacita”. I still sing this in my head every time I buy bananas. 😄 No matter the origins, it is a part of my childhood, & I’m happy about that.
December 3rd, 2020 at 6:24 am
Well, the problem is when someone says that “Mama Paquita” is a Brazilian Carnival Song, because IT IS NOT.
So, you must stop to say for Gary calm down, because it’s important to accurately represent other cultures. There are already enough misconceptions out there and it would be nice if kids didn’t learn such misconceptions at school as well. That way they can learn how to respect the individuality which results from a culture different than their own.
Never think that “Mama Paquita” is from Brazil. That’s probably why so many Americans think people from Brazil speak Spanish.