[Intro] [Creaking wood, folk harp, brisk 3/4 guitarrón and violin waltz] [Female Vocal: Smoky Ranchera Contralto] There's a house where the siding peels weeping and grey, And a thorny wreath chokes out the light of the day. Where children once laughed, now the cold shadows brood, And an obstinate miser lives bitter and rude! On Día de Muertos, beneath the full light, Came stylish Catrina, dressed up for the night. With marigold garlands, French lace, and a grin, She tapped on the wood and said, "Let me come in!" [Verse 1] [Female Vocal: Fierce contralto, sharp vihuela] "Come out, little mortal! Your clock's run its race! I've arrived in my gown to take you to your place!" El don terco pulled blankets right over his head: [Male Vocal: Nervous reedy tenor] "This house is quite empty! Go haunt someone's bed!" [Female Vocal] La Catrina just chuckled, "¡Ay, qué cobardón! You act like the boss, play the frightened ladrón!" From the black chimney throat came a frantic bird's flight, While the ghosts in the rafters all cackled with spite! [Ghost Chorus] [Rowdy cantina chorus, zapateado stomps, marimba] ¡Ay, ay, ay! Hear the floorboards creak! "This house is not empty!" the shadows all shriek! He boasted so loud, now he's chilled to the core: ¡Tiene miedo el cobarde to open the door! [Verse 2] [Female Vocal] She leaned on the lock; in the silence it broke, And the century's dust rose around her like smoke. The windows grinned wide with their jagged glass teeth, While a cold unseen hand creaked the timbers beneath. "¡Qué bonita mansión! Smells of paper and rot! Where's the sweet pan de muerto and punch in the pot? No candles? No copal? No cempasúchil shelf? ¡This hollow old tomb needs an altar itself!" [Chorus] [Female Vocal & Chorus] ¡Ay, Catrina, Catrinita! Dancing underneath the moon! Came to harvest one old sinner, Now you're humming out of tune! Lift your feathered brim up high! Laugh beneath the midnight sky! From the panteón to Halloween, Reigns the cold calavera queen! [Verse 3] [Female Vocal] "Where's the laughter and dreams?" La Catrina declared, "A home left unloved is a tomb you've prepared!" El don viejo peeked down from the top of the stair: [Male Vocal] "The chimney is choking and flooded down there! If you drag me away, you inherit the deed, And the property taxes are all guaranteed!" [Female Vocal] La Huesuda stepped back, clutching pearls to her chest: "¡Por todos los santos! I came for an arrest, Not to patch up a roof or to scrape out a flue! I'm a reaper of souls, not a carpenter too!" [Ghost Chorus] [Cantina chorus] ¡Miren nomás! The grand Lady of Doom, Defeated by pipes and an unpainted room! [Chorus] [Female Vocal & Chorus] ¡Ay, Catrina, Catrinita! Dancing underneath the moon! Came to harvest one old sinner, Now you're humming out of tune! ¡Baila, baila! Waltz with the dead! Wear a sugar-skull crown on your elegant head! You hoarded your silver, you hoarded your gold, Now waltz with the phantoms out here in the cold! [Verse 4] [Female Vocal] The draft blew like scissors, the cobwebs broke free, And a painted clay skull hollered, "¡Te toca a ti!" Her Parisienne lace was a sorrowful sight, As plaster rained down in the flickering light! "¡Ay, qué desastre! This house is a curse! I came for one miser, not a rotting old hearse!" El doncito walked down with a mop and a smile: [Male Vocal: Smug tenor, jaunty accordion] "¡Bienvenida, señora! Stay here for a while!" [Bridge] [Female Vocal] La Catrina collapsed in the dust by the grate, And she laughed till her ribs were beginning to shake: "Why cling to a wreck full of taxes and rot, When down in the graveyard the ponche is hot? Leave the silver behind and the leaks in the floor— Once you're dead, mi querido, you owe nothing more!" El don pobre just blinked as his heart gave a sigh: [Male Vocal: Relieved tenor, joyful falsetto] "¡Ay, Virgen María! I'm free of back taxes the minute I die?!" [Female Vocal: Fierce contralto, building zapateado] He shook off his flesh like a coat from his chest, Took the arm of Catrina, and left all the rest! [Final Chorus] [Female Vocal] ¡Ay, Catrina, Catrinita! Dancing underneath the moon! Came to harvest one old sinner, Now they're howling out a tune! Lift your marigold crowns up high! Kiss the October night goodbye! Where the copal and candles gleam— It's Día de Muertos since Halloween! ¡Baila, baila! Waltz with the dead! With a cempasúchil crown on his bony white head! The silver's forgotten, the taxes unpaid, As he drinks by the graves where the candles are laid! [Outro] [Female Vocal: Warm smoky contralto] Now the silver still sits in that rotting old frame, While the taxman is knocking and calling his name... Though the miser is gone from the chilly damp floor... [Ghost Chorus] ¡Esta casa is empty! We live here no more! [Female Vocal] "¡Salud, mis amores! Come rattle your bones— We're drinking mezcal on the cemetery stones!"
