Ay, ay, ay, ay -- That beauty mark, pretty darling -- it belongs to me

In Southern California, this song is ubiquitous to anyone who's spent any amount of time in an old-school California Mexican restaurant.  On Saturday and Sunday, the mariachis stroll through the place, playing all sorts of traditional songs that most of us know nothing about.  We recognize them, but that's it.

The song is called "Cielito Lindo," and I had no idea what it was about.  From my Bulgarian girlfriend's charming singing and translating, I learned that it's a love song.




Translated from Espanolish...

That beauty mark, next to your mouth, pretty darling,
don't give it to anyone, my beautiful love, for it belongs to me.

 
I don't know why there's an ear of corn in the picture above, but there's a strange connection to the next song...

Part of the fun of youtube is seeing the "related" videos, which in this case were more love songs with a Latin flair.



This is one of my longtime favorites, and while it doesn't have "secret" (e.g., Spanish) lyrics, I did find that the lyrics that I know were added later.

It's origin is a song called "El Choclo."  That means "ear of corn" in spanish.  The reason for that name is weirdly complicated, but it has nothing to do with my first song.

El Choclo is a famous tango from an Argentinian composer.  It didn't have words, just music.  A tango.  I don't know how to tango, but I'm willing to learn.