At the end of Suite:Judy Blue Eyes, when Crosby & Nash are singing the “doodoodoododo…ditdit da doodadoo” part, what the heck is Steven Stills singing? Is he speaking in tongues? It sounds kind of like a Romance language, but I can’t make it out. Anyone have a transcription?
According to this site, they are:
Que linda me la traiga Cuba
La reina de la Mar Caribe
Cielo sol no tiene sangreahi
Y que triste que no puedo vaya
Oh va, oh va, va!
Which, according to this site, loosely translates as:
How happy it makes me to think of Cuba,
the smiles of the Caribbean Sea,
Sunny sky has no blood, and how sad that
I’m not able to go
Oh go, oh go go
and adds, “Stills said in the liner notes on the Box Set: ‘The little kicker at the end about Cuba was just to liven it up because it had gone on forever and I didn’t want it to just fall apart. I said, “Now that we’ve sung all these lyrics about one thing, let’s change the subject entirely.” And we did. Even did it in a different language just to make sure that nobody could understand it.’”
Then there was the parody of it by Frank Zappa & Las Mothers in their epic “Billy the Mountain” from Just Another Band from L.A.:
At least this time you could understand the words.
Good Lord, you guys are efficient! One hour between question and definitive reply… Ask SD is so much more fun than asking Jeeves. Thanks.