La’s been listening to Christmas music almost non-stop since Thanksgiving, so I’ve had a chance to hear all sorts of songs I don’t usually jam to while I’m working.
One of the more “fun” Christmas songs is the Spanish song “Los Peces en el Rio”, which is translated as “The Fishes in the River”. It was playing just now and I asked La what the heck a bunch of fish in the river have to do with Christmas. She said she couldn’t understand the lyrics– it’s a pretty fast song and her Spanish is a bit rusty– but of course I was curious so I looked up the lyrics.
Here are a few selected stanzas from the song, translated into English:
“They drink and they drink
And they return to drink,
The fishes in the river,
To see God being born.”
Aha! Obviously there’s the link to Christmas: the fish are drinking (and then drinking some more, apparently) as they watch Jesus. But here’s the best line:
“The Virgin washes diapers
And hangs them on the rosemary,
The birdies singing
And the rosemary flowering.”
Uhh. Mary is washing diapers? I mean, sure, you know she did it at some point (even Jesus had to poop) but it seems like a strange thing to put in a Christmas song.
Anyway, it’s still a fun song…