# Guantanamara--what's so great about it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901 "2006-12-28T20:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/21 "2006-12-29T13:36:45Z")
The Wikipedia article and the definition that **Nava** cited support something I had heard years ago: “Guajiro” is Cuban for “peasant, rube, hillbilly” (feminine guajira) and is also (in the feminine) the term used for a particular style of “Cuban country/folk music” – analogies are pretty obvious. The “guajira guantanamera” of the song is a peasant girl from Guantanamo province – but the song itself is a “guajira” musically. Something like going to a bar/tavern with both a kitchen and a dance floor, and alternating between dancing and eating salsa. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/22 "2006-12-29T13:40:56Z")
_One ton of mierde Juaquin ate one ton of mierde One tone of mierde…_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/23 "2006-12-29T13:41:57Z")
(‘ton’, not ‘tone’) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/24 "2006-12-29T13:50:15Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I know a verse for Cielito Lindo that’s related to that one; there’s similar ones in many other songs from the late XIX and early XX centuries: _Si a tu ventana llega, Cielito lindo, una paloma, trátala con cariño, Cielito lindo, que es mi persona._ If a dove (beautiful heaven of mine) reaches your window, treat her with love, for she is me {meaning, “she’s from me”, “she’s my messenger”}. [/QUOTE] This is the only verse I know. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find it anywhere on the 'net for verification. I imagined mi abuela just made it up so that she could twist it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/25 "2006-12-29T13:52:55Z")
Not necessarily, I know a lot of verses for Christmas carols that you’d never find on the 'net. One of the things about folk songs is that, unless someone has recorded a version that somehow becomes “the” version, there’s as many variants as people singing them. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/26 "2006-12-29T14:04:05Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I’ve hated that song ever since I had to act it out in a game of charades. [/QUOTE] OK, I’ll call you on this one: what did you do? I suppose either or both you and your audience actually knew and understood the lyrics? Me, I enjoy the melody but had no idea what they’re saying until I read the Wikipedia article cited on this thread a few minutes ago. The best I would have been able to come up with would have been (a) to mime the concept of a very large tomato, then (b) try to mime the image of a mariachi band to convey Hispanic-ness. Not really 100% contextually accurate but hopefully enough to get the point across. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/27 "2006-12-29T22:37:15Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] And those who yearned to overthrow the corrupt Batista regime and install a new populist democracy in its place comprised a movement that held up Jose Marti, a deceased Cuban patriot, as their ideal, and used the song Guantanamera as their Marseillaise. [/QUOTE] This is it, really, but reverence for Marti long predates the Batista regime, [Jose Marti](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD) was both a renowned poet and writer and a martyr to Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain, being killed in battle in 1895. _Guantanamera_ is revered because its words are taken from one of Marti’s poems. Imagine, say, that _America the Beautiful_ had been composed by George Washington or Abraham Lincoln and you may have a better idea of the significance of this song in Cuban culture. It is honored by both pro-Castro and anti-Castro Cubans, who both regard it as their anthem. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/28 "2007-01-02T22:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Imagine, say, that _America the Beautiful_ had been composed by George Washington or Abraham Lincoln and you may have a better idea of the significance of this song in Cuban culture. [/QUOTE] Except that _America the Beautiful_ always has the same lyrics: [QUOTE=wikipedia] Given the song’s musical structure, which fits A-B-A-B (sometimes A-B-B-A) octosyllabic verses, the Guantanamera lent itself from the beginning to impromptu verses, improvised on the spot, similar to what happens with the Mexican folk classic, “La Bamba”. [/QUOTE] I’ve been to many parties where people pick up a guitar and improvise funny lyrics to both songs, much to the general amusement. I’m trying to think of an equilvalent song in the U.S., with no luck. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901/29 "2007-01-03T00:31:42Z")
Wow! This thread turned out to be heavy laden with cultural riches and history. This is a sterling example of what the Straight Dope Message Board is all about. Thank you, all. [Nott tips his old fedora.] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanamara-whats-so-great-about-it/385901.md?page=1)