"las mananitas"

Can't find new information other than the above... Maybe I can add some random background: One interesting feature in this song is the use of the octosyllable verse metric, which links it to the romance, a tradition of anonymous poems and folk songs dating back to the 15th century in Spain.

"Estas son las mañanitas ° que cantaba el rey David.
Hoy por ser tu cumpleaños ° te las cantamos a ti."

for comparison: an example of Spanish Romance

"A la infanta de Sansueña ° me fueron a presentar.

la infanta desque me vido ° de mi se fue a enamorar.
La vida que yo tenía, ° Rey, quierovósla contar.
En la su mesa comía, ° y en su cama me iba a echar."

The one linked in Wikipedia is almost the same tune... check this out:

"Madrugaba el conde Olinos ° mañanita de San Juan
a dar agua a su caballo ° a las orillas del mar."
Romance del conde Olinos (with music)

I'm not saying the song is so old... just that it seamlessly follows the tradition of Spanish verse. However, the grammar in "Las Mañanitas" is quite modern and informal, so I would not expect it to be much older than the early 20th century.

Edited by: klaush

#10 -- Corridos, including narcocorridos, are also octosyllabic. As you say, that doesn't mean that any particular narcocorrido goes back to the 15th century, just that they're in an old tradition.

Wikipedia says that corridos used to be in waltz time, like Las Mañanitas, although they're more often polkas today.

Thank you, everyone, for the great responses. I didn't end up getting up for the 5 am Mañanitas, but I went to mass that evening and we sang a few verses of the song, plus "Las apariciones guadalupanas," another one of my favorites: "...y eran mexicanos, y eran mexicanos, y eran mexicanos, su porte y su faz." Thank you especially to every one who posted detailed information and links.

Viva la morenita!

Qué viva!!!!