Virgencita Ranchera Lyrics in English by Edwin Luna y La Trakalosa de Monterrey
Arrullo translates to "lullaby" or "cooing," often associated with the soft, soothing sounds a mother makes to comfort a baby.
In "Virgencita Ranchera," the word is used beautifully to describe the Virgin Mary's name. The lyrics state, "Tu nombre es arrullo y el mundo lo sabe" (Your name is a lullaby and the world knows it). This evokes a feeling of peace, comfort, and maternal tenderness, suggesting that her name itself brings solace and a sense of security to those who speak it.
Edwin Luna dedicates this ranchera to the Virgen de Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint, and he names himself doing it in the second line: "De Edwin Luna" [From Edwin Luna]. He calls her "mi virgen morena" [my dark-skinned virgin] and "Mi guadalupana" [My Guadalupan one], the names people actually use for her, then lists what she's given the country: "Este lindo suelo" [this beautiful land], a "santuario cerquita del cielo" [sanctuary close to heaven], a mantle that "nos cubre" [covers us] whenever he sings up to her.
The chorus turns her into royalty. "Que viva la reina de los mexicanos" [Long live the queen of the Mexicans], he sings, "La que con sus manos sembró rosas bellas" [She who planted beautiful roses with her hands] "Y puso en el cielo millares de estrellas" [and put thousands of stars in the sky]. Roses and stars as her handiwork is an old folk image, and Luna repeats the whole chorus twice like he wants to be sure it lands. By the closing lines he has stopped singing about her and started singing to her, calling Mexico "tu tierra" [your land] and the flag "su bandera" [her flag].
